Rob Raynard

Dr Rob Raynard gained a BSc in Zoology at the University of Liverpool

where he also completed a PhD in fish physiology. He joined the Marine Lab in 1987 and is the leader of the Epidemiology Main research interests

are in the epidemiology of fish diseases. Recent work includes; surveys

 of wild fish populations for viruses that impact on farmed fish species;

studies of the interactions between wild and farmed fish in the transmission of pathogens and; distribution and mechanisms of pathogen transmission. Rob was appointed Director of the Aquaculture and Aquatic Animal Health Programme at Marine Scotland Science in 2007 and leads science through which expert advice related to fish health and aquaculture is provided to Scottish Government.  The programme also includes the Fish Health Inspectorate for Scotland and National Reference Laboratory for fish disease diagnosis. 

Ken Mc Cullough

Ken McCullough is Head of Research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Virology and Immunoprophylaxis in Mittelhaüsern. He obtained his doctorate from Queen’s University in Belfast, subsequently working at the IAH in Pirbright before moving to Switzerland in 1986. His research focuses on both animal and human viral diseases.

Currently, he coordinates the PanFluVac project, which has successfully completed an H5N1 vaccine clinical trial, and is focussing on targeting nanoparticle-based vaccines to dendritic cells.

Dr. Hana Weingartl obtained Doctorate in Natural Sciences from Charles University in Prague and PhD from Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph, Canada. Following her postdoctoral fellowship at the National Agricultural Research Institute in Jouy-en-Josas, France, she started to work at National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease in Winnipeg. As a Head of the Special Pathogens Unit, Hana brought to operation the BSL4 laboratory of the Canadian Food Inspection agency. She focuses on animal models for zoonotic and emerging viruses of veterinary importance, such as West Nile, SARS and eastern equine encephalitis virus, Nipah, Hendra and Rift Valley fever virus, pandemic influenza viruses, and recently also Ebola.

 Chris Olsen

Dr. Olsen is Professor of Public Health and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin, in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. He received his DVM degree from Cornell University in 1982 and then, after 6 years in clinical practice, returned to Cornell and received his PhD in virology in 1992. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1995 and has been on the faculty since that time. His research examines public health aspects of influenza in pigs and the factors that control transmission of influenza viruses among people and animals.

Ian Brown

Ian Brown is a designated OIE expert on avian influenza and Newcastle Disease and member of the OFFLU laboratory network. He provides consultancy at both national and international level on these diseases, specialising in laboratory applications and their relevance to disease control. He has acquired a wide experience in Virology in over 30 years, primarily working on viral infections of poultry and pigs in both diagnostic and research laboratories.

It was for research into swine influenza that he gained his PhD in 1996.  He has been active in developing formal European networks on swine influenza together with many associated international activities.

 Professor Dirk Pfeiffer

Dirk Pfeiffer is veterinarian graduated in Germany in 1984 and obtained a PhD in Veterinary Epidemiology from Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand in 1994. He worked as an academic in New Zealand until 1999, when he was appointed to a Chair in Veterinary Epidemiology at the Royal Veterinary College in London, UK. Dirk teaches epidemiology at under- and postgraduate level, and has run many related short courses in various places around the world. He works on animal health issues in developing as well as developed countries, with a particular emphasis on epidemiology of animal diseases, risk assessment and disease surveillance