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| Topics | Speakers | |
| OIE standards on Animal Welfare: update on animal transport standards | Dr. Montserrat Arroyo, World Organisation for Animal Health | |
| Transportation of Research Animals: The AAALAC International Perspective | Dr. Gary Borkowski, AAALAC International | |
| Need for Veterinary Involvement in the Airline Industry | Dr. Nelva Bryant, Delta Air Lines Dr. Melisa Grisolle, PetWings |
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| APHIS Aquaculture Updates | Nancy Hannaway, USDA APHIS Veterinary Services | |
| Update on International Zoosanitary Issues Affecting Animal Trade | Dr. Peter Fernandez, PJF AgroStrategies Consulting | |
| Long-distance Transportation of Horses by Road and Air | Dr. Barbara Padalino, University of Bologna, Italy | |
| Bears on a Plane: Planning, training, and executing the cross-country transport of two polar bears | Claire Downs, Mandy Fahy, and Emilee Orndorff, The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore | |
| Avoiding Trade Issues When Exporting Breeding Stock of Poultry to Mexico | Alma Lilia De León, USA Poultry & Egg Export Council | |
| Transportation of Research Animals: From rodents to nonhuman primates | Dr. Carrie Freed, The Ohio State University Dr. Karen Rogers, Indiana University Dr. Buddy Capuano, Wisconsin National Primate Research Center |
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| Edmonton International Airport Bison Conservation Project | Alex Lowe, Edmonton International Airport | |
| Transporting Animals, Etihad Cargo LiveAnimals Service | John O'Grady, Etihad Cargo | |
| European Horse Network: gateway to Europe? | Mark Wentein, European Horse Network | |
| Shipping Brachycephalic Pets - Update from the IPATA R&D Taskforce on the Fit-To-Fly Assessment | Dr. Gerry Pahl, PetExportVet | |
| NOAH and The ARK – humane equine handling by National Organization of Animal Handlers (“NOAH”) and quarantine operations at JFK International Airport | Elizabeth Schuette, The ARK at JFK |
Alex Lowe, Edmonton International Airport
Alex Lowe is Manager, Network Development (Cargo) at the Edmonton International Airport (EIA). Alex brings to this role more than 20 years of diverse experience in the aviation industry, the majority of which has been spent in the air cargo sector.
At Edmonton International Airport Alex develops and implements strategies to grow the airports’ air cargo network domestically and internationally; while ensuring the airport is building the needed infrastructure and capacity to facilitate EIA’s growth as a fast-growing gateway for e-commerce and logistics business. In addition, Alex focusses on new business attraction and diversifying and enhancing revenue streams.
Alex and the team at EIA are committed to growing the airport’s business in a sustainable and responsible way and have become industry leaders in the adoption of new initiatives and innovative technologies.
Prior to joining Edmonton International Airport, Alex spent 12 years with Canada’s largest all-cargo airline - Cargojet in a regional Management capacity.
Alma Lilia De Leon, USAPEEC Mexico
ALMA LILIA DE LEON, USAPEEC MEXICO DIRECTOR
Alma Lilia De Leon served as the marketing manager for USAPEEC Mexico from 2004 to early 2019. She was promoted to Director in 2019 and carries out market intelligence activities, technical assistance, trade and marketing development programs (trade shows and conferences), and teams up with USDA agencies when dealing with market access issues in order to facilitate exports of U.S. poultry meat and egg products into the country.
Since 2010, De Leon has been involved in the implementation of QSSB-sponsored projects in Mexico specifically focused to growing U.S. poultry usage in the meat processing sector.
Alma majored in International Trade and developed her expertise in promotional marketing by working with Agricultural Trade Office cooperators such as the U.S. Meat Export Federation, and APA, the Engineered Wood Association.
She’s been married to Adrian for 20 years and they are the proud parents of Julia and Patricio, 15 and 12 years old respectively. Besides of being Director to the Mexico Office, Alma considers herself a “foodie” with her favorite proteins being poultry and eggs, which makes her a perfect fit for the job!
Barbara Padalino, University of Bologna, Italy
Dr. Barbara Padalino graduated in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Bari (Italy) in 2002 and in 2017 completed her PhD entitled “Transportation of horses and the implications for health and welfare” at the University of Sydney, Australia.
She is currently Associate Professor of Animal Science at the University of Bologna, Italy, and a member of the Animal health and welfare panel of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
Horses have characterised all her life; she has been a rider, a driver, a Standardbred horse breeder, an equine veterinarian, and an equine scientist! This is the reason why she has carried out a number of research projects aiming at safeguarding horse welfare. However, her research interests span a number of topics from animal behaviour and welfare to equine internal and sports medicine.
She has written more than 100 publications in peer reviewed international journals and conference proceedings on those topics.
She is an active member of the Animal Transport Association (ATA) and the International Society of Equitation Science (ISES). She is currently leading a project on the effects of air transportation on horse health and welfare, and she is very excited to be a speaker at the ATA Conference!
Carrie Freed, The Ohio State University
Large Animal Procurement, how to get all the moving parts to work together
Carrie L. Freed, MLAS, D.V.M, is a Director, Quality Assurance, University Laboratory Animal Resources and Professor, Veterinary Preventive Medicine at The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. After receiving her master's in laboratory animal science from Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Dr. Freed received her veterinary medical degree from The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. Her clinical research focuses on addressing hypothesis driven research to validation methods of therapeutic treatments or surgical practices currently used in rodent medicine. Dr. Freed is board certified in laboratory animal medicine and currently serves as an ad hoc Specialist for AAALAC International.
Claire Downs, The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore
Claire Downs is the Animal Operations Specialist at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. Ms. Downs received her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Biology from Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri. After spending four years in community organizing, she moved home to Baltimore to take up her current position with the Maryland Zoo.
Ms. Downs is responsible for purchasing and budgeting in the Animal Department, managing facilities work orders, and other departmental projects. She also sits on the Sustainability Committee of the Conservation Department where she works on the zoo's zero waste projects with a focus on composting.
Elizabeth Schuette, The ARK at JFK
Elizabeth A. Schuette, President and CEO of The ARK Import Export Center, LLC is responsible for oversight of all day-to-day operations of JFK International Airport’s animal health, reception and quarantine center – The ARK at JFK. The ARK’s provides safe and humane animal handling and transport services to airlines and their ground handling agents, shippers and brokers, corporate accounts, rescue organizations and individuals in support of Federal agency requirements for the import and export of all animals. – including horses, goats, pets, zoo animals, exotics and laboratory animals. In this capacity, Elizabeth works closely with senior TSA, CBP, USDA and CDC officers, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey officials, IATA representatives, as well as airline executives. The ARK’s small animal division – ARK Pet Oasis - also provides shipping and agency services for importing, transporting and exporting companion animals. Elizabeth is an active contributor to animal shipping trade organizations including the International Pet and Animal Transportation Association (“IPATA”) and Animal Transportation Association (“ATA”).
Prior to taking on her responsibilities at The ARK, Elizabeth served as Managing Director with Racebrook Capital (Developer of The ARK) with strategic planning, compliance and oversight responsibilities. She is a licensed real estate broker in CT, FL and RI. In addition, Elizabeth is President of George Washington Mortgage & Investment Corp. – a closely held boutique firm that manages real estate assets in NY and MD and provides consulting services on asset portfolio acquisitions.
Earlier in her career, Elizabeth managed the operations division (credit analysis, servicing and asset disposition) of banks and equipment leasing companies including ICON Capital, HSBC/Concord Leasing, Household International, and Citytrust (acquired by Chase). She was a financial/portfolio analyst with Booz Allen and Hamilton and Kaplan Smith and Associates (acquired by Boston Consulting Group).
Elizabeth received her B.A. in Economics with High Honors from The College of William and Mary and a M.A. in Economics from The George Washington University.
Emilee Orndorff, The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore
Emilee Orndorff is an Animal Keeper at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. After earning a bachelor's degree in Environmental Science from Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, Virginia, she spent four years working on horse farms before making the switch to zookeeping.
As a member of the Northern Passage and African Watering Hole team, she is responsible for the daily husbandry of a variety of species including polar and grizzly bears.
In 2018 she attended the Climate Alliance program through Polar Bears International and traveled to Churchill, Manitoba to network with polar bear keepers from across the country.
She is currently a member of the Zoo's Arctic Ambassador Committee where she and her colleagues develop new ways to educate the public about climate change and provide leadership on this issue within the community.
Gary Borkowski, AAALAC International
Gary L. Borkowski, D.V.M., M.S. is Global Director for AAALAC International, and has been in this role since November 2018. He is responsible for overseeing the accreditation program for AAALAC International, with over 1050 accredited units in 50 countries.
Dr. Borkowski has a long history of service with AAALAC International. In 1998 he was selected to become an Ad Hoc Consultant to AAALAC, and in the years following he served multiple terms as a member of AAALAC’s Council on Accreditation. From 2007 through 2011 he also served on the AAALAC International Board of Trustees representing the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science.
Dr. Borkowski received his veterinary degree from Iowa State University and a master’s degree in laboratory animal medicine from Pennsylvania State University. He has over 30 years of experience in academic and pharmaceutical laboratory animal medicine, having worked at Vanderbilt University, Pennsylvania State University, Upstate Medical Center (New York), Monsanto, Pharmacia, Pfizer, and the Eli Lilly Company.
Dr. Borkowski has presented and published on topics such as rodent aseptic surgery, animal facility design and construction, institutional animal care and use committees (IACUCs), electronic medical records, microgravity research, and management and leadership.
Dr. Borkowski previously served as program chair for the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS) Annual Meeting, is past President of the American Society of Laboratory Animal Practitioners (ASLAP) and past president of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (ACLAM).
Gerry Pahl, PetExportVet
Dr. Gerry Pahl is a professional veterinarian with over 30 years' clinical experience and Owner/ Director of one of Hong Kong's leading veterinary Hospital groups.
Raised on a farm in rural Victoria, Australia and surrounded by animals and family pets from a young age, his love of animals naturally influenced his career choice.
He graduated from the University of Sydney in 1986 and has since worked as a Veterinary surgeon in Australia, the United Kingdom and has lived and worked in Hong Kong since 1997.
Dr. Gerry founded his International pet relocation company, PetExportVet, in 2010 and immediately joined IPATA. He has been actively involved as an IPATA from the beginning initially presenting veterinary topics at regional meetings and conferences followed now by a leadership role as IPATA President-elect.
He has also been actively participating in research into the safe and humane transport of Snub-nosed dogs in his role as chair of the IPATA R&D Taskforce.
John O'Grady, Etihad Cargo
John O'Grady specializes on quality and compliance in the aviation cargo operations sector focusing on the transportation and handling of specialized commodities which includes Live Animals, Pharma, Perishables, Valuables, DG etc.
John has 20 years of managerial experience, more than half of that in the Cargo Aviation sector.
In his current role John is in charge of all the IATA CEIV programs, process and procedures, quality failure investigations, audits and more.
The main focus for John and his team is the continuous development and enhancement of EY Cargo Premium Products where he and his team continuously make improvements on the transportation and handling of these specialized commodities.
Karen Rogers, Indiana University
Dr. Karen L. Rogers earned her B.S. in Chemistry from John Carroll University and her DVM from The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine. She is a Diplomate of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (DACLAM).
Dr. Rogers serves as Attending Veterinarian and Director of Laboratory Animal Resources at Indiana University. She provides leadership through technical and scientific guidance to drug development and translational medicine efforts across diverse therapeutic areas in both academia and industry environments. She has provided preventative medicine and clinical care to a variety of laboratory animals resulting in high quality animals used to discover and develop solutions to animal and human diseases and medical conditions.
In addition, Karen consults and collaborates with investigators in reducing, replacing, or refining their animal models resulting in increased efficiency and animal welfare in models to create better outcomes.
Mandy Fahy, The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore
Mandy Fahy is an Animal Keeper at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore with a bachelor's degree in Zoo Animal Management from the University of Chester in Chester, UK.
As a member of the Northern Passage and African Watering Hole team for the past seven years, she has worked with a diverse array of species with a primary focus on rhinos and bears.
Mandy enjoys combining creativity with the science of behavior change to develop novel ways to promote species-typical behaviors. She sits on the advisory board for Hose2Habitat and leads enrichment building workshops across the country.
Mandy is an avid trainer, always basing her practices on the most positive, least intrusive methods.
Mark Wentein, European Horse Network
Mark Wentein (BEL - 1956) is professionally more than 40 years involved in the equine sector:
Melisa Grisolle, PetWings
Melisa Grisolle graduated from Veterinary Medicine and Animal science on 2004 from Cayetano Heredia University in Peru. She has a specialization in Veterinary Pathology. Melisa worked at a Veterinarian Laboratory for 8 years while developed a small animal veterinary practice but then switch little by little to pet relocation.
Melisa opened PetWings Peru on 2012 as a need for professional pet relocation services in Peru. Member of IPATA since 2013 (Member of the boards from 2016-2019)
Main motivation: Love to animals.
Montserrat Arroyo, World Organisation for Animal Health
Montserrat Arroyo K graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City (Mexico) in 2004, as Doctor in Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry. She later did her Master´s Degree in Preventive Veterinary Medicine (MPVM) at the University of California, Davis in the United States, in 2009.
She began began her career in the public service in the National Service of Health, Safety and Agri-Food Quality (SENASICA) in Mexico, focusing mainly in the areas of prevention and control of foreign animal diseases for the Mexico-United States Commission for the Prevention of FMD. She later on worked in programs dedicated to the prevention and control of animal diseases at national level.
Subsequently, she was in charge of the Directorate of Imports and Exports, of the General Directorate of Animal Health, in charge of the management of international negotiations for the establishment of trade in animal products, as well as sanitary measures and cooperation agreements on animal health with third countries. She was head of the National Producer for Veterinary Biologics in Mexico.
She has participated as a speaker in numerous scientific and technical conferences and has various publications in scientific and technical journals.
She has also served as Subregional Representative of the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) for the Central American and Caribbean Region, supporting the WOAH Member Countries regionally in the strengthening, surveillance and control of animal diseases in the Central American and Caribbean region. Head of the World Animal Health Information Department, Head of the Regional Activities Department and is currently the Deputy Director General for International Standards and Science of the WOAH.
Nancy Hannaway, USDA APHIS Aquaculture, Swine, Equine and Poultry Health Center
Nancy Hannaway D.V.M. is currently the APHIS VS Strategy and Policy Aquaculture, Swine, Equine and Poultry Assistant Director stationed in Fort Collins, Colorado. She is directly responsible for aquaculture and equine commodity health programs as well as non-program species.
Prior to her current position, Nancy was the commodity key lead for the Chronic Wasting disease program. Nancy received her Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from the Ohio State University and owned and operated a mixed animal practice in Ohio with her husband, Dr. Vincent Morton for twenty years before joining APHIS Veterinary Services in the Ohio field office, first as an Import/Export Veterinary Medical officer and later as the Designated Scrapie Epidemiologist.
Nancy resides in Timnath, Colorado with her husband, her daughter, Lillian, and their two schnauzers, “Basil” and “Butters”.
Nelva Bryant, Delta Air Lines
Dr. Nelva J. Bryant DVM, MPH
Airline Industry Veterinarian
Background
Peter Fernandez, PJF AgroStrategies Consulting
Dr. Peter Fernández was a senior executive with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Service (APHIS), International Services (IS) for over 15 years of his 30-year government career. He reached the personal rank of Career Minister in the US Foreign Service. In his USDA, senior leadership role, Dr. Fernández coordinated various technical and administrative aspects of the APHIS mission overseas, including: management of plant and animal health trade issues, safeguarding U.S. agriculture, oversight of cooperative animal disease eradication and control programs, and promoting safe trade in agricultural commodities through capacity building and technology transfer as well as addressing the regulatory aspects of biotechnology, animal welfare, and wildlife management.
Dr. Fernández began his career with APHIS as a Field Veterinary Medical Officer in Texas. In 1991, he became International Services’ Senior Staff Officer for Epidemiology and was assigned to Mexico as the Co-Director of the Mexico-U.S. Exotic Animal Disease Commission in 1993. Dr. Fernández has served as APHIS Regional Director in Mexico City, Mexico (1993 – 1998); Santiago, Chile (1998 – 2000); Brussels, Belgium (2005 – 2011); Bogota, Colombia (2011 – 2016); and Beijing, China (2015). Dr. Fernández served as US Delegate to the World Organization of Animal Health (OIE) from 2001 to 2006 and was elected President of the OIE Regional Commission for the Americas for a three-year term.
In April 2002, Dr. Fernandez was named Associate Administrator of APHIS and served in this capacity until 2005. He retired from USDA, APHIS in October 2016. Dr. Fernandez co-authored the OIE Atlas of Transboundary Animal Disease and has assisted in the organization and instruction of the USDA, APHIS International Transboundary Animal Disease training and Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostician courses at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center. He has acted as a Consultant for the Pan-American Health Organization’s Foot-and-Mouth Disease Center (PANAFTOSA) in Brazil and as an OIE Expert in administering the OIE Performance of Veterinary Services (PVS) tool to assess Veterinary Services competencies having led the mission to Botswana in May 2019.
Dr. Fernandez also provides his expertise to various US agricultural industries and private entities. He currently is under contract as an animal health Subject Matter Expert with the APHIS Wildlife Services National Feral Swine Program. He is the recipient of the 2021 K.F. Meyer-James H. Steel Gold-Headed Cane Award of the American Veterinary Epidemiology Society.
In October 2021, at the request of the APHIS Administrator, Dr. Fernandez returned to the agency as an Advisor in support of the US efforts to control and eradicate African swine fever in Hispañola.
Saverio (Buddy) Capuano, Wisconsin National Primate Research Center
Dr. Buddy Capuano is a diplomate of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine with 40 years of experience working with non-human primates, 29 as a veterinarian. As a Primate Medicine Resident and Associate Veterinarian at the California National Primate Research Center from 1993-1998, Dr. Capuano assisted in managing daily husbandry, providing clinical care, and performing experimental support for a large colony of non-human primates (3500 animals).
As the Attending Veterinarian for the Pittsburgh Facility for Infectious Disease Research from 1998-2001, he provided veterinary care for a large colony of macaques (200) and acted as collaborator and co-investigator on numerous protocols involving a variety of infectious agents (e.g., Simian Immunodeficiency Virus, Human Papilloma Virus, Human Influenza Virus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Listeria monocytogenes, Pneumocystis carinii, and Trypanosoma cruzi) and transgenic vectors.
As the Attending Veterinarian for the Magee-Womens Research Institute (MWRI) from 2001-2005, he was responsible for the daily clinical care of the animal colony of the MWRI (250 NHPs, 2000 rodents) and provided experimental support for numerous investigators performing reproductive, stem cell, and cloning research at the Institute.
As Attending Veterinarian and Associate Director of Animal Services of the WNPRC, he oversees the veterinary, animal husbandry, and animal research support programs of the WNPRC and develops policies for these units.
He also serves on the University of Wisconsin-Madison Graduate School IACUC, the Occupational Health Committee, and he is a member of the WNPRC Senior Management Team. He is also the Director of the current ACLAM accredited Laboratory Animal Medicine Training Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dr. Capuano also served for several years on the BOD of the Association of Primate Veterinarians (President 2006-2007).
