A blog post from Enise about her trip with World Vets

From June 29 to July 6, I had the chance to volunteer with World Vets in Granada, Nicaragua. World Vets is an organization which provides free veterinary services to pet owners in developing countries. The days were packed with hours spent at the World Vets clinic; around 250 cats/dogs and 80 horses were helped by our team in the form of vaccinations, deworming, spay/neuter and physical exams. In our spare time, we got to experience the beautiful city of Granada: the food, music, salsa dancing and volcanos. It was so rewarding to be able to travel, learn and help the local community!  

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Here is a photo of myself and two friends (also from the University of Guelph) holding up our flag on Canada Day in Nicaragua.

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Here is a photo of myself and one of the cutest patients of the clinic, Christian the puppy.

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

Sad news from Australia this morning...

I was introduced to Dr. Rick Speare from James Cook University when I was a graduate student with Dr. Jim Collins at Arizona State University. Dr. Speare was responsible for the discovery of chytridiomycosis and had an impressive body of other research work spanning both veterinary and human medicine. This morning I woke up to several emails from former colleagues informing us that Dr. Speare was killed in a motor vehicle accident in Townsville on his way home from a trip.  His loss will be felt by the ecology, conservation, and public health communities not just in Australia but also around the world. Our condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

Calling all equine enthusiasts!

We are recruiting for a new research study. If you are a horse owner or equine facility manager please take a moment to review some of the study details. For more information please contact Rachael Milwid at rmilwid (at) uoguelph (dot) ca. 

Photo courtesy of  Grand River Raceway and Hands on Horses

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. 

Analyzing the dynamics of the Ebola outbreak...using the IDEA model

In 2013, we (David Fisman, Tanya Hauck, Ashleigh Tuite and myself) published a paper called an IDEA for short term outbreak projection. The IDEA (incidence decay and exponential adjustment) model was based on the idea that we could use simple types of public health surveillance data and turn that information into reliably accurate projections of what might happen in the outbreak in the short-term. In that paper, we suggested that although we had tested the model using a few case studies, further evaluation in the context of real-world outbreaks would establish the utility of IDEA as a tool for front-line epidemiologists. Well look no further...the IDEA model is being tested to see how it performs using data from the ongoing Ebola outbreak. You can check out how the model is performing at the following link. You can also read more about the role that mathematical epidemiology is playing in the Ebola outbreak in this article published in Science magazine.