2024 – 2025 Achievements

Over the past last year, the Animal Population Health Institute (APHI) within the Department of Clinical Sciences, CVMBS, has achieved several milestones.

Milestones

  • At the invitation of the UN-FAO, Drs. Sangeeta Rao and Mo Salman attended the second meeting of the FAO Reference Centers for Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Coordination in Rome. During the gathering, APHI was recognized as a reference center for Veterinary Epidemiology and considered for collaboration within the FAO-AMR network. Dr. Rao’s contributions to antimicrobial use and resistance were highly regarded by the participants, and opportunities for future collaboration were identified.
  • APHI, as an FAO Reference Center for Animal Disease Surveillance Systems and Veterinary Epidemiology, participated in the International Conference on Animal Health Innovation held in Rome on Sept. 24-25. Dr. Salman served as a panelist in the discussion on contributions to animal health innovations by the 30 international reference centers.
  • Dr. Rao has been successful in developing a tool to train dairy workers and producers on responsible PPE use, biosecurity and infection prevention/biosafety using Virtual Reality technology in collaboration with VetVR team. The team is currently developing a VR training tool on appropriate hygiene and biosecurity practices for calf health and wellbeing.
  • Dr. Rao secured funding of $500K from National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program (NADPRP) of USDA-APHIS as a PI. The project is titled “Developing a national-level equine operation and population dataset to inform decision-making for emergency planning and preparedness for disease management” and the funding is secured for two years.
  • Dr. Rao has a continuing collaboration through Cooperative Agreement with USDA-APHIS-VS NAHMS. The Cooperative Agreement is to provide support for the biologics components of National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) studies. It also supports the work of the NAHMS to execute and provide analytic support in epidemiology, design, plan, and analyze national surveillance data for animal diseases as needed.
  • A team led by Dr. Salman, with Dr. Rao as a team member, assessed the viral disease surveillance system in the Sultanate of Oman on behalf of the UN-IAEA in summer of 2024. A technical report was produced.
  • Dr. Salman participated in the WHO mission for the Joint External Evaluation (JEE) of Qatar. Following the standard procedure, WHO produced and shared a technical report with Qatar.
  • At the request of Qatar University, Dr. Salman is serving as a consultant for a pilot project assessing the health and impact of stray dogs in Doha, Qatar.
  • A 50-minute presentation was delivered by Dr. Salman at the 2024 AVMA Annual Meeting during the One Health Symposium, titled “One Health in Action: Demonstration of the OH-HEAL Project in East Africa.”
  • A 50-minute presentation was delivered by Dr. Salman at the 2025 AVMA Annual Meeting during the Food Safety symposium titled “Global Health and Food Security – The role of profession of veterinary medicine.”
  • A new project has been initiated to assess available alternatives to antibiotics as growth promoters in livestock species. A scoping review is currently being conducted as the first step in this project.