2017 AAAS Golden Goose Award for Dr. Joyce Longcore

Dr. Joyce Longcore. Photo courtesy of the University of Maine.

This morning I arrived at the office to an email from my doctoral supervisor Dr. Jim Collins at Arizona State University (ASU). The email had been sent to a long list of current and past collaborators of the lab all of whom have worked on or are currently working on research questions related to amphibian decline. The email was to inform us that last night in Washington, Dr. Joyce Longcore, Elaine Lamirande, Dr. Don Nichols and Dr. Allan Pessier, were awarded the 2017 AAAS Golden Goose Award. The award celebrates scientific success stories and Dr. Longcore and the other awardees are the perfect example of a great team doing some wonderful investigative work. 

Jim's email was also a reminder to me of how fortunate I was to complete my graduate training at ASU being mentored by Jim. As a member of his team, I also had the ability to interact with a large network of scientists, and graduate students from across the country that were all a part of a large, NSF funded Integrated Research Challenges in Environmental Biology (IRCEB) project focused on amphibian decline (Dr. Longcore was one of those scientists). It serves as an important reminder to me how experiences, conversations, and being treated as a colleague even when you are a graduate student can really shape the experience of graduate students. I have very fond memories of my time at ASU and the wonderful training environment in which I was "raised". Jim Collins, Elizabeth Davidson and the rest of the IRCEB team were all a huge part of that and seeing Dr. Longcore receive such a prestigious award in recognition of her work in the area of amphibian decline was a really wonderful surprise for a Thursday morning. 

Luz met PM Justin Trudeau at a meeting in Ottawa this week.

Luz managed to get a selfie with our PM Justin Trudeau after the discussion.

The math.epi.lab's very own Luz Kisiel was invited to travel to Ottawa to participate in a discussion with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and President Enrique Peña Nieto on Tuesday, June 28, during the Mexican leader's state visit to Canada.

Luz has conducted research in Mexico looking at owned, and free-roaming dog population dynamics as well as rabies vaccination programs within the State of Hidalgo, Mexico. She was invited to participate in a discussion about collaborative research partnerships and opportunities for students in Canada and Mexico. 

The discussion was held at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa and was moderated by Dr. Ingrid Bejerman, Coordinator for the Canada in the Americas Initiative (CITA) at the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. 

Kelsey's research featured in Western Producer magazine

Big news for a math.epi.lab alum!

Congratulations go out to Beverly Goh, a former undergraduate research assistant in our group. Beverly will be furthering her studies in the DVM program here at the Ontario Veterinary College in September 2016. Congratulations Beverly (class of 2020)! 

We are hiring!

Have you just completed your PhD? We are looking for a postdoctoral fellow to join the math.epi.lab! Read more here. 

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The Math.Epi.Lab at the Canadian Association of Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine

The CAVEPM conference rotates between the Canadian veterinary colleges and this year the meeting was hosted here at the Ontario Veterinary College. Our group presented three oral presentation and three posters. It was also a great way for our new summer students to begin their summer research experience. 

Enjoying a sunny lunch outside on the lawn. Just missing Gabrielle and Emma.

Kelsey starting her talk on equine networks. 

Luz giving a great talk about her field work in Mexico. 

Join the new Community of Interest (CoI) in Disease Modeling @ OVC

My research group is facilitating a new Community of Interest (CoI) in Disease Modeling at the University of Guelph. This is an interdisciplinary group that will meet once per week to discuss recently published papers, work in progress by group members as well as a variety of other topics of interest to the disease modeling community. We are hoping to have participants from across the University as well as local, provincial and federal government scientists who are actively working in this area to join us for discussion. We are not focused on any one specific methodology or application but rather on building a collaborative group to support learning and research within the broad area of disease modeling. Further details regarding the day and time of group meetings as well as resources for the meetings will be distributed shortly. If you are interested in joining the group please contact me by email and I can add you to the distribution list.