The Department of Health Management will be interviewing two candidates for the two-year term faculty position in Aquaculture Population Health. As part of the interview process, each candidate has been asked to present a teaching and service seminar.

Our second candidate will be on-campus August 12.

Dr. Sonja Saksida received her Bachelors of Science in Marine Biology, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Master of Science in Veterinary Epidemiology from the University of Guelph. Dr.  Saksida has over 25 years of experience in aquatic animal health. She has extensive clinical and field veterinary experience in Canada and internationally and has worked with over 15 finfish and shellfish species grown in commercial aquaculture, enhancement and research facilities. Dr. Saksida has published over 25 scientific papers and 15 technical reports focusing on fish health issues such as sea lice and antimicrobial use.  She has presented at number of nationals and international scientific meetings and conferences; 15 as an invited speaker. In addition to speaking to the scientific community, she has also spoken on topics of public interest on aquaculture and fish health to local schools, First Nations and community organizations and industry groups. Dr. Saksida was the CEO of British Columbia Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences (BC CAHS) in Campbell River, BC where she helped develop and manage the research and disease/pathogen screening services. Dr. Saksida was also the Lead Veterinarian for the Aquatic Animal Health Program for Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) in BC and a Veterinary Programs Officer in the Import/Export Aquatics section at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) where she was involved in both developing and applying regulations pertaining to aquaculture and fish health. She worked with the Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture (NSDFA) to develop their Provincial Aquatic Animal Health Regulation.  Dr. Saksida is a strong believer of involving a broad group of stakeholders when working towards solutions to problems.  As a result she has assembled a large and diverse network that includes researchers from all over the world, regulators, aquaculture and fisheries producers/manager/veterinarians, first nations groups and members of the NGO community.  Dr. Saksida is currently focusing on understanding and controlling disease spread and ensuring fish health management practices remain effective and with minimal environmental impact.  Additionally, she is interested in animal welfare and wild/farmed pathogen movement.

Skills Required for Aquaculture Clinical Practice and Teaching
Monday, August 12, 2019 @ 9:00 am
AVC Lecture Theatre "A"

Any interested faculty/staff are invited to attend. A copy of the candidate's CV and letter of application are available by contacting Tracy O'Flaherty (toflaherty@upei.ca) in the Department of Health Management.