Fernando Vicosa Bauermann, DVM, MSc, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the Oklahoma State University College of Veterinary Medicine. He engages in several research areas, including virome studies in animal populations and biological products, the viability of viruses under various conditions, and the pathogenesis of respiratory viruses in cattle. Originally from Brazil, Dr. Bauermann earned his DVM, MSc, and PhD from the Federal University of Santa Maria. He spent five years as a visiting scientist at the Ruminant Diseases and Immunology Unit at the United States Department of Agriculture in Ames, Iowa, where he focused on the characterization of emerging pestiviruses in cattle, particularly HoBi-like viruses. His work highlighted the genetic and antigenic differences between well-known bovine pestiviruses and HoBi-like viruses. Subsequently, he worked at the virology lab at the Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory at South Dakota State University, specializing in the diagnosis of endemic and emerging viral diseases in swine and bovine.

Dr. Michael Davis earned his veterinary degree in 1988 from Texas A&M University and practiced veterinary medicine for 4 years before moving to the Marion DuPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Virginia to become board-certified in veterinary internal medicine. He earned a PhD in physiology from Johns Hopkins University in 1999 and has been employed as a research physiologist and clinical expert in exercise physiology at Oklahoma State University since 1998, where he was named to the John Oxley Endowed Chair in Equine Sports Medicine. Dr. Davis is a member of the inaugural class of board-certified specialists in the American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation in 2012 and recently completed a term on the Board of Directors and president of that organization.

Dr. K. Gururaj is a Senior Scientist in the Division of Animal Health at the ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Goats in Mathura, India. With a Ph.D. in Veterinary Microbiology from TANUVAS, Chennai, Dr. Gururaj has a distinguished career in veterinary science, particularly in the development of advanced diagnostic methods such as molecular techniques and sero-diagnostic tools for diseases like Enterotoxaemia and Brucellosis. He has led numerous national and international research projects, including those funded by FAO. Dr. Gururaj has published over 100 research articles and holds a patent for a herbal immunomodulator composition for goats. His work extends to significant contributions in zoonotic disease research and antimicrobial resistance surveillance. He has guided multiple postgraduate and doctoral students and played a pivotal role in the commercialization of various veterinary technologies. His research excellence is further underscored by an H-index of 14.

Amy D. Hagerman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Oklahoma State University working on issues related to Agriculture and Food Policy. Dr. Hagerman completed a Bachelor of Science (2004) in Agricultural Economics at Oklahoma State University, a Master of Science (2005) and a Doctor of Philosophy (2009) in Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University and a Post-Doc with the Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Disease Defense Center. Before joining Oklahoma State University in June 2018, Dr. Hagerman spent 7 years with the United States Department of Agriculture working on economic consequence assessments of trade and animal health policies on US agricultural industries. Dr. Hagerman focuses her integrated extension and research program on understanding and managing the risks of agriculture, including animal health, extreme weather, and market fluctuations.

Crystal (Niki) Johnson is an assistant professor of microbiology in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at Oklahoma State University's Center for Health Sciences. She received her bachelor's and Ph.D. degrees in microbiology from the University of Oklahoma and then spent several postdoctoral years training at Teagasc, the Irish Food & Drug Development Authority, on topics such as fecal transplantation, infant microbiome development, pig models of metabolic syndrome, and methanogen mitigation in ruminants. She was then awarded an EU Marie Sklodowska-Curie Independent Fellowship to conduct human studies on gallbladder microbiota, with a view towards the development of post-operative therapeutics. Over the next 5 years in Ireland, Dr. Johnson joined the APC Microbiome Institute, leading the “Microbes to Molecules” research team through industry-related projects in human health-focused R&D for Anheuser-Busch and Kraft-Heinz Company. As a new PI at OSU CHS, Dr. Johnson’s research continues to investigate tailored microbiome modulation for improved health outcomes. She has a special interest in the isolation of previously uncultivated novel anaerobes, exploring their application as translational pharmabiotics, and developing an arsenal of narrow-spectrum antimicrobial peptides for targeted pathogen management.

Dr. Purna Kashyap is a professor of medicine and physiology, and the Bernard and Edith Waterman Director of the Microbiome program at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. He leads a NIH-funded laboratory focused on delineating complex interactions between diet, gut microbiome, and host physiology using germ-free mouse models. In parallel, his laboratory uses a systems approach incorporating multi-omics, patient metadata, and human tissue physiologic responses, to identify novel microbial drivers of DGBI. Dr. Kashyap has published nearly 100 peer-reviewed articles including journals like Cell, Cell Host Microbe, Science Translational Medicine, Nature Communications, and Gastroenterology. He was inducted to ASCI in 2021 and has previously served on the ANMS council, NGM board of editors, and the scientific advisory board of AGA Gut Microbiome Center. He currently serves on the AGA council and research committee, in editorial roles at Gut Microbes and FASEB, and as an ad hoc reviewer on NIH study sections.

Dr. Charlotte Lawson graduated with BSc(hons) in Animal Science from Wye College, University of London, and received a PhD at The Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology (Imperial College, London), investigating the shedding of Type 2 p75 TNF-Receptor in immune cells, using site-directed mutagenesis. She then moved to the Transplant Immunology Research Group at Harefield Hospital (Imperial College, London) for a British Heart Foundation-funded post-doctoral position. This was followed by a BHF funded Intermediate Fellowship, investigating the role of ICAM-1 antibodies in endothelial inflammation and early atherosclerosis. Lawson was awarded a lectureship at The Royal Veterinary College, University of London in 2004 and remained at the RVC until April 2024 continuing with cardiovascular research, as well as taking on several other academic roles including Directorship of the Biosciences Programme, and recently appointed as Associate Dean for Business Development and Knowledge Exchange in the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences at University of Central Lancashire.

Dr. Mana Mahapatra is trained as a veterinarian in India with a master's degree in Veterinary Biochemistry. With a Commonwealth Scholarship, she pursued her PhD in Molecular Virology at The University of London. She worked as a veterinary virologist at TPI working on the development of recombinant vaccines and associated diagnostic tests for two important viral diseases of domestic animals, Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Peste des petits ruminants (PPR). She has over 70 numbers of publications to her credit. She was successful in receiving > £6.5 million in funding from various funding bodies. She has extensive experience in training and capacity building in third-world countries, mainly in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia. At the Pirbright Institute, UK she was involved in conducting training courses for animal diseases and, was also part of the national emergency response team for animal diseases. Recently she worked on a project for WOAH where she prepared e-learning modules on PPR for the veterinarians, para-veterinarians, and lab scientists of Southeast Asian countries and, developed a risk register that documents possible risks for incursion of the disease into the region and how to prevent it.

Dr. McCullagh is an Assistant Professor of Integrative Biology at Oklahoma State University. She obtained the Doctor of Philosophy in Biology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The goal of my lab, and my research interests, is to understand how the brain processes sound location information. I explore central sound source processing in three ways: 1. By manipulating the brain using modern neuroscience techniques such as optogenetics, rabies neural circuit tracing, auditory brainstem responses, and spatial acuity behavior, 2. Using disorders, such as autism (Fragile X Syndrome), with auditory components to understand how the auditory brain functions both in these disorders and also how it can inform the underlying processing of auditory information in health 3. Using novel model organisms and their unique adaptations to their environment to better understand how the brainstem has evolved to suit an organism's unique challenges for processing sound source information. These different areas of research work in synergy to probe (1) and understand (2,3) how the brain processes sound location information using integrative and multidisciplinary approaches.

Dr. Anthony Onipede stands as a distinguished figure in Nigerian healthcare and academia, celebrated for his profound impact on medicine and medical education. Born in Lagos State, Nigeria, Onipede grew up with a passion for helping others and a keen interest in the sciences. After completing his secondary education, Dr. Onipede pursued a degree in medicine at the University of Ife now called Obafemi Awolowo University, where he graduated with B.sc (Hons), MBChB, M.Sc. He went on to specialize in Laboratory Medicine (Medical Microbiology) and earned a Board-certified Fellowship from the West African College of Physicians. He was later appointed as a consultant physician and professor of medical microbiology at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex (OAUTHC) and Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun-State, Nigeria. He had postdoctoral training at the Medical Research Council Laboratories, The Gambia and Stanford University, California, USA. He has worked tirelessly to improve healthcare outcomes, particularly in rural areas, and has been instrumental in training and mentoring numerous healthcare professionals. His work has significantly contributed to the field of infectious diseases, particularly in the study of antibiotic resistance and tuberculosis. He has been cited in numerous scholarly articles for his research and has co-authored with various experts in the field of medical microbiology.

Dr. Oseni is a professor of animal breeding at the Department of Animal Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Nigeria. He holds a PhD in Animal Breeding from the University of Georgia (UGA), Athens, USA. Dr. Oseni is a grantee of the International Foundation for Science (Sweden), DFID/IDRC African Climate Change Adaptation Fellowship. He was the country leader for DelPHE836 funded by the DFID/UK, EU-funded DairyChain, EU-funded iLINOVA on science, technology, and innovations for livestock development. A co-recipient of the University Administration Support Programme (UASP) grant from the Carnegie Corporation of NY under IREX.org. Dr. Oseni is a Fellow of the African Climate Change Adaptation program awarded by START.org, Washington DC, and a Fellow of UASP/IREX.org, Washington DC. He served as the Director of university Research and initiated a “Community of Practice for Grantsmanship” in OAU, with funding from the Carnegie Corporation.

Dr. Veerasak Punyapornwithaya is an associate professor of veterinary epidemiology at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Thailand. He earned his DVM degree from Kasetsart University, Thailand, and his Ph.D. from Washington State University, USA. With over 15 years of experience in epidemiology, he specializes in applying statistical models and data science techniques to animal disease data. He served as the principal investigator for a study assessing the impact of lumpy skin disease (LSD) in Asia, funded by the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH). Currently, he is on the advisory board for establishing LSD prevention and control strategies in Southeast Asia. Additionally, he continues to receive funding from WOAH for developing predictive models for livestock disease trends based on animal price fluctuations and related factors. He has collaborated with mathematicians, statisticians, data scientists, and public health professionals in various studies.

Dr. Ashley Railey is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Oklahoma State University, specializing in health services research and health economics among marginalized populations, both in the United States and internationally. Prior to her position at OSU, she completed postdoctoral fellowships at the intersection of public health and sociology at Indiana University and health economics at Washington State University, as well as doctoral work through the Paul G. Allen School for Global Health at Washington State University on adoption of vaccines and diagnostic testing for foot-and-mouth disease in Tanzania. Her research in animal health has contributed to vaccine development for FMD in East Africa, has helped facilitate a rapid, national response to African swine fever in the Dominican Republic, and assessed the implications of introducing diagnostic testing across disease events and countries. Her contributions to human health have been instrumental in the adoption of cost-effective and culturally feasible approaches to manage chronic disease in Native American adults and substance use disorders in rural America. She has received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the US Health Resources & Services Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Homeland Security, and the US Department of Agriculture.

Adam Roth is an assistant professor in the Sociology Department at Oklahoma State University. He received his PhD (2019) from Washington State University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship (2019-2022) at Indiana University. He uses his methodological expertise in social network analysis (SNA) and ecological momentary assessments (EMA) to study health and social well-being among older adults. He is the principal investigator on the Social Environment and Cognitive Health in Urban and Rural Areas (SECHURA) project.

Dr. Joy Scaria holds a Ph.D. from BITS, Pilani, India, and was a Postdoctoral fellow and Research associate at Cornell University, New York. In 2014, he began his independent research program as an Assistant Professor at South Dakota State University. In 2023, Dr. Scaria joined Oklahoma State University as an Associate Professor and the Walter R. Sitlington Endowed Chair in Infectious Diseases.

Dr. Rashmi Singh is a Professor and Head of the Department of Veterinary Microbiology, DUVASU, Mathura (India), and also holds the position of Dean, College of Biotechnology. She received her B.V.Sc. & A. H. degree from CCSHAU, India, and her Ph.D. in Veterinary Microbiology and Immunology from GBPUAT, India. She has around 25 years of experience in teaching and research and has guided 11 master’s and one Ph.D. students. She has authored more than 55 peer-reviewed publications of original research. She has worked as principal investigator and co-investigator in research projects from the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, and Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi. She is a recipient of CSIR-Senior Research Fellowship; Student Merit Award; ISVIB - GADVASU Woman Scientist Award; Reviewer Excellence Award; DBT-CTEP Travel Grant; INSA Grant; ICAR, DBT and DST Conference Grant; M R Dhanda Oration award and IDP-NAHEP Overseas Faculty Training award as Visiting Professor to VIDO, University of Saskatchewan, Canada. She also served as the Nodal Officer for the Covid-19 Testing Laboratory and is a member of the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee, Institutional Biosafety Committee, and Selection Committee of scientist/professor.

Dr Lesley Smyth is an Associate Professor of Immunology at the School of Medicine and Biosciences, University of West London. She is a board member and Treasurer of the UKEV society. She started her scientific career at the University of Glasgow, graduated with a BSc in Immunology before completing a PhD at Edinburgh University, studying the mechanisms behind immunological tolerance to milk proteins. She moved to London, where she worked as a Research Fellow at various institutes including the National Institute for Medical Research, University College London, Imperial College London and King’s College London (KCL), being funded by the MRC and BHF. In 2015, she embarked on an academic career as a Senior Lecturer of Immunology at the University of East London, where she established her laboratory. Over three decades, she has published several key publications contributing to scientific knowledge of the immune system, including; the signalling pathways involved in positive and negative thymic T cell selection; the discovery that viral peptide: MHC class 1 molecules are exchanged between professional antigen-presenting cells spreading antigen during viral infections; the discovery that regulatory T cells (Tregs) release immune modulatory extracellular vesicles (EV); the role of MHC transfer and EVs in the semi-direct pathway of allorecognition, as well as to the discovery of novel therapeutics for patients; CAR Tregs. Her current research focus is on creating novel therapeutics using EVs.

Dr. Alain Stintzi is a professor and the Director of the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa. He earned his Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Louis Pasteur University, France, in 1997. Following this, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied iron transport by siderophores. In 2000, he was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology at Oklahoma State University. In July 2005, he joined the University of Ottawa as an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology and became a member of the Ottawa Institute of Systems Biology. He was promoted to Professor in 2012 and served as Vice-Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies from September 2013 to April 2024. Dr. Stintzi possesses unique cross-disciplinary experience, and his current research combines techniques from various scientific fields, including gut microbiology, genetics, functional genomics, medicine, chemistry, biochemistry, and bioinformatics, to study the role of the gut microbiome in human diseases.

Dr. Reed Stubbendieck’s research focuses on how bacteria use antibiotics and other secondary metabolites to facilitate microbial interactions. He trained under Dr. Paul Straight at Texas A&M University and Dr. Cameron Currie at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During his graduate work, he studied a model system of bacterial interspecies interactions using two soil bacteria, Bacillus subtilis and Streptomyces sp. Mg1, and discovered that Mg1 produces antibiotic linearmycins. Subsequently, he identified the mechanisms of action, resistance, and biosynthesis for linearmycins. As a postdoctoral fellow, stubbendieck studied interactions within the human nasal microbiome. He discovered that commensal Corynebacterium propinquum produces the siderophore dehydroxynocardamine to compete with other commensal bacteria for iron. In addition, he discovered that commensal Rothia in the nose protects against colonization by the pathobiont Moraxella catarrhalis using a secreted peptidoglycan endopeptidase. Recognizing the antimicrobial potential of human’s own microbiota, he conducted a comprehensive genomic survey to identify biosynthetic gene clusters in human oral and respiratory bacteria, uncovering their untapped potential to produce bioactive secondary metabolites. His laboratory now aims to understand how bacteria synthesize and use these metabolites to mediate competition and cooperation within host-associated microbiomes.

Dr. Madhan Subramanian was born and raised in Karur, a small town in the Southern part of India in 1981. He earned his Bachelor of Veterinary Science (Eq. to DVM) from Madras Veterinary College, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai in 2006. After completing his bachelor’s, he briefly worked as a research associate at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Chonnam National University, South Korea in 2007. Dr. Subramanian pursued his Ph.D. from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Michigan State University, Michigan in 2011. After finishing his postdoctoral training at Wayne State University in 2014, he worked as a Lecturer at the School of Veterinary Medicine at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison until 2017. Later, Subramanian joined as an Assistant Professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma. He then received tenure and was promoted to an Associate Professor in 2023.

Dr. Claire Thornton obtained her BSc (Hons) Biological Sciences degree from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh followed by a Master’s degree in Human Molecular Genetics (Imperial College London). She completed her PhD at Imperial College with Prof David Carling (Imperial) andDr. Mike Snowden (GSK) in 1999, on the regulation of the mammalian cellular "fuel gauge", AMPK. Claire then moved to the USA in 2000 to undertake postdoctoral research at the University of California, San Francisco, working on neuronal signaling perturbed by drugs of abuse, with Prof Dorit Ron. She returned to the UK, joining the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, and in 2007, was awarded a Research Into Ageing Fellowship to investigate the role of AMPK-mediated tau phosphorylation as an early event in Alzheimer’s disease. Claire subsequently took up a lectureship at King’s College London where she investigated the molecular mechanisms of Perinatal Brain Injury, before being appointed as Senior Lecturer in Cell Biology at the Royal Veterinary College in 2018. Claire was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and promoted to Reader in Neurobiology in 2023, continuing to work on mitochondria dysfunction in neonatal brain injury in response to stresses such as hypoxia-ischemia, drugs of abuse, and pollution. Dr. Thornton’s research interests center on the molecular basis of neurocellular stress, resulting in neural energy depletion. In particular, her research targets perturbations in mitochondrial dynamics affecting their fission, fusion, and mitophagy with the ultimate aim of generating new targets for neuroprotective intervention.

Lance Walker is an internationally recognized expert in fusing human performance, sports science, and sports medicine for athletes of all ages, ability levels, and sports disciplines. He is the former Executive Vice President and Global Performance Director of Michael Johnson Performance. Walker has experience in both private business of sports performance and working in organizations within the NFL, NCAA, and High School levels. Walker is a published author, former university human performance lab coordinator, NIKE Performance Council Member, and exercise science researcher. Additionally, he is a performance coach, registered physical therapist, adjunct professor and clinical instructor with nearly three decades of sports performance training and sports medicine experience spanning over 50 professional, elite, collegiate, high school, and youth sports and thousands of current and past athletes supported, including First Round NFL/NBA/CHL/MLB draft choices, Olympic and Paralympic Gold medalists, World Champions, World Record Holders, Super Bowl MVPs, Champions League Stars, and NFL Hall of Famers.