Research centre celebrates a year of remarkable success

Members and research partners of the Atlantic Veterinary College's (AVC) globally-recognized Centre for Veterinary Epidemiological Research (CVER) gathered at AVC today to celebrate a year marked with success.

The Centre for Veterinary Epidemiological Research at the Atlantic Veterinary College is one of the world's leading centres for animal health epidemiological research--the study of disease in animal populations. The centre, which has close to 50 members and 30 graduate students, focuses on advancing and safe-guarding health through expertise in production of high quality and safe food, disease surveillance, detecting emerging and zoonotic diseases, animal welfare, evaluating diagnostic tests, and determining the efficacy of new treatments.

'People sometimes ask why this field of study is so important,' says Dr. Ian Dohoo, Director of the Centre. 'The answer is simple--health and diseases in animal populations play a huge role in the availability and quality of our food, the spread of many of the diseases that we hear about in the news, the impact of these diseases on human health and the ecosystem, and the health of our society overall. If we don't look at animal population health, we're missing a very large piece of the puzzle.'

In 2009, CVER's strength and relevance in terms of animal health and the production of safe, high-quality food in an environmentally sustainable manner was reflected in:

• securing three research chairs (AVC professor Dr. Larry Hammell was named the Innovation PEI Industry Research Chair in Epidemiology for Global Aquatic Food Animal Production. Fellow AVC professor, Dr. Greg Keefe, was named the Innovation PEI Industry Research Chair in Milk-Based Diagnostics and Information Technology Applications. Dr. Javier Sanchez was appointed the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Chair in Regulatory Veterinary Epidemiology at AVC. These researchers join the centre's existing chairs--Dr. Crawford Revie, Canada Research Chair in Epi-Informatics, and Dr. Michael Cockram, Sir James Dunn Chair in Animal Welfare.);

• launching the Canadian Regulatory Veterinary Epidemiology Network in partnership with CFIA (to, among other things, monitor disease and evaluate risk associated with re-emerging diseases);

• being the only small university in Canada to make it to the final round of the prestigious Canada Excellence in Research Chair competition (worth an estimated $10 million) with final results of the competition to be announced in March 2010;

• impacting countries around the world--such as China, Sweden, South Africa, Portugal, Norway and others--through considerable outreach activities and sharing of expertise; and

• the launch of the 2nd Edition of Veterinary Epidemiologic Research--a textbook co-authored by three members of the centre which has become the standard for graduate programs in veterinary medicine epidemiology around the world.

'The considerable expertise and research strengths of our Centre for Veterinary Epidemiological Research enable the Atlantic Veterinary College at UPEI to contribute to societal health in a truly global nature,' says Dr. Donald L. Reynolds, Dean of the Atlantic Veterinary College.

'As Atlantic Canadians, we should be proud that the world's best are a part of our community and are so deeply committed to making a difference. It is quite remarkable to have a centre of this calibre, a world leader, in our own backyard.'