Joshua Akey, Ph.D.
Saturday, March 13

Joshua Akey is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington. His research uses both computational and experimental approaches to address a range of topics in evolutionary and functional genomics. His recent work in canine genetics is directed at characterizing patterns of structural variation within and between breeds and identifying targets of artificial selection in the canine genome.

Catherine André, PhD

Saturday, March 13

Catherine André, PhD is the Head of the Canine Genetics Group in the CNRS Unit at the School of Medicine, Rennes, France, where she has also served as a Staff Scientist. She has contributed extensively to the field of canine genomics as well as elucidated the molecular basis of many canine diseases, including histiocytic sarcoma in Bernese Mountain Dogs, X-linked PRA in Border Collies and epilepsy. She has described olfactory receptors and inheritance of the merle coat color. Dr. André earned her PhD in Molecular Oncology at the University of Paris.


Susann Brown
Sunday, March 14

Susann Brown began her career in search and rescue in 1989 as a volunteer handler for a canine SAR team in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. She eventually became the training director and search manager and deployed on more than 200 searches over her 15 year service with 3 canine partners. In 2000 she joined Texas Task Force One, one of the 28 FEMA Urban SAR teams. Susann is rostered as a Search Team Manager for TX-TF1 and has deployed on many federal and state disaster events in the past 10 years including the World Trade Center, Shuttle Columbia Recovery, and Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Ike. In addition to her role as an STM, Susann is a Canine Search Specialist with her canine partner, Rose, and manages the disaster canine program. She has worked to elevate the quality of canines brought into the training program. In her quest for the perfect disaster canine candidate, Susann has attended many conferences, talked to program managers of other federal canine programs and has screened hundreds of potential canine candidates.


Joan R. Coates
Saturday, March 13

Joan Coates, VMD, MS, is Associate Profession in the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery at the University of Missouri. Her work has elucidated the genetic basis of canine degenerative myelopathy and characterized inherited diseases such as ceroid lipofuscinosis. Dr. Coates has developed and described surgical techniques and studied drug efficacy. She holds a DVM from the University of Missouri and an MS in Neurosurgery form Auburn University.

Robert L. Gillette

Monday, March 15

Robert Gillette, DVM, MSE is currently the Director of the Canine Detection Research Institute and the Veterinary Sports Medicine Program at Auburn University. He has a consulting practice devoted to working with athletic and working dogs and publishes the Athletic and Working Dog Newsletter. He holds a DVM from Kansas State University and a MSE in Biomechanics from the University of Kansas.

Glen J Golden

Sunday, March 14

Glen Golden is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. He received his PhD in Neuroscience from Florida State University, studying flavor-taste preference learning in rats and brain responses to magnetic fields. He is currently studying learned ingestion behavior and taste receptors. He is owner of The Golden Rules Dog Training, a canine behavior consulting practice specializing in the treatment of behavior problems in companion and service dogs.

Heather J. Huson

Saturday, March 14

Ms. Huson is a 5^th year doctoral graduate student at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.  She is completing her graduate research at the National Human Genome Research Institute within the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.  Her research investigates the breed composition and performance genetics of the Alaskan sled dog.  She competitively raced sprint sled dogs for 23 years, participating in internationally sanctioned events throughout the continental United States, Canada, and Alaska.  She served as a Director-at-Large for the International Sled Dog Racing Association and local sled dog clubs advising on dog and driver safety, race standards, youth activities, and event management.  Ms. Huson has 6 years experience as a small and exotic animal veterinary technician and spent 3 years as a genetics research technician examining the major histocompatibility complex in canines and Alaskan wildlife and infectious diseases in wildlife.  She was also an outreach instructor for the Alaska EPSCoR Rural Research Partnership where she coordinated and oversaw genetic research projects with high school students and teachers in rural Alaskan villages.  Ms. Huson’s future research interests include broadening her investigation of performance genetics to specialized attributes exemplified by working dogs and wildlife.  These attributes include both physiological and behavioral qualities associated with the natural predisposition and/or trainability of these animals in areas such as hunting,  pointing, herding, swimming, chasing, and prey drive.

David Kontny

Friday, March 12

David Kontny has extensive experience with working dogs and currently serves as the Vice Chairman for the Scientific Working Group for Dog and Orthogonal Guidelines (SWGDOG) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Explosives Standards Working Group.  Mr. Kontny was designated as the Acting Deputy Director of the Protective Security Coordination Division (PSCD) within the DHS Office of Infrastructure Protection in September 2009.  As the Deputy Director, Dave is a key advisor to, and works in tandem with, the PSCD Division Director in leading and managing Division efforts to provide national level leadership for securing our Nation’s critical infrastructure and key resources from acts of terrorism and facilitating recovery from all hazards.  Mr. Kontny joined PSCD in September 2007 and served as the Senior Advisor, National Canine Policy and Standards for the Division’s Office for Bombing Prevention.  He became the Office for Bombing Prevention Deputy Chief in December 2008. In this role, Mr. Kontny provided leadership and coordination within DHS on explosive threats and countermeasures, while working with Federal, State, and local government partners to enhance and integrate national capabilities to combat explosive attacks.   Prior to joining PSCD, Mr. Kontny was assigned as the Director, National Explosives Detection Canine Team Program within the Transportation Security Administration, and as the Department of Defense Explosives Canine Coordinator for both the 1992 Republican National Convention and the 1994 World Cup Soccer Events.

Eldin A. Leighton

Saturday, March 13
 

Eldin A. Leighton, Ph.D. holds the endowed Jane H. Booker Chair of Canine Genetics at The Seeing Eye in Morristown, New Jersey. Since 1994, he has been responsible for making the breeder selection and mating decisions for this long-term breeding program producing about 600 puppies per year. About half of these puppies are trained for work as guides for blind people or are kept as replacement breeders. As a consultant to The Seeing Eye, Dr. Leighton first began providing breeding program advice in 1977. In 1979, he completely redesigned The Seeing Eye’s breeding program, laying out then the general framework for the approach they continue to follow today. In 1976, Dr. Leighton completed a three-year stint in the U.S. Army where he worked as a research geneticist in the Bio-Sensor Research Division of Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Bio-Sensor, also known as the “Super Dog Project” was a Veterinary Corps research project begun in 1968 with a research objective to genetically improve the military working dog. This project produced about 400 German Shepherd puppies per year, many of which served as military working dogs, some even serving in combat in Vietnam. Dr. Leighton earned an M.S. and a Ph.D. in animal breeding, with minors in statistics, from Iowa State University.

Katariina Mäki
Saturday, March 13

Katariina Mäki's research subjects are inbreeding and genetic diversity in dog breeds, as well as genetics of hip and elbow dysplasia. She is responsible for developing and running BLUP estimation for hip and elbow dysplasia for 35 dog breeds in Finland.  She is the executive manager of a Finnish Society called Canine Genetic Health and Ethics. She is also a member of the scientific breeding commission of the Finnish Kennel Club (FKC) and a chair of the BLUP workgroup of the Nordic Kennel Union. Currently she works for the FKC in developing a generic strategy for dog breeding.

Edward Morrison

Sunday, March 14

Edward Morrison, PhD is Professor and Head of the Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology at Auburn University in Alabama. He has studied olfactory receptor neurons and their response to zinc nanoparticles, canine and primate olfactory anatomy. He received his MS in Reproductive Endocrinology and PhD in Anatomy from Kansas State University, and has held several academic positions at Florida State University, the Medical College of Virginia, and Auburn University

Cynthia O’Connor

Sunday, March 14

Cynthia attended veterinary school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Following veterinary school, she completed an internship in small animal medicine and surgery at the Animal Medical Center in NY and then went into private practice in MA. After working as an emergency clinician and general practitioner, she recently has been pursuing specialty training in the area of veterinary medical genetics, pediatrics, and reproduction at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine. 

In addition to her professional interests, Cynthia has been breeding and exhibiting Portuguese water dogs for over 15 years and is an active member of the Portuguese Water Dog Club of America. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Portuguese Water Dog Foundation and draws on both her personal and professional experiences in an effort to contribute to the Foundation’s outstanding desire to further research with the goal of improving the quality of life and health of Portuguese water dogs.   

James Serpell

Sunday, March 14

James Serpell is the Marie A. Moore Professor of Humane Ethics and Animal Welfare at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, where he also directs the Center for the Interaction of Animals & Society (CIAS). He received his bachelor’s degree in zoology from University College London (UK) in 1974, and his PhD on animal behavior from the University of Liverpool (UK) in 1980. In 1985 he established the Companion Animal Research Group at the University of Cambridge before moving in 1993 to his current position at the University of Pennsylvania where he lectures on veterinary ethics, applied animal behavior and welfare, and human-animal interactions. He serves on the editorial boards of most of the major journals on animal welfare, applied animal behavior, and human-animal interactions, and his research focuses on the behavior and welfare of dogs, the development of human attitudes to animals, and the history of human-animal relationships. In addition to publishing more than 80 articles and book chapters on these and related topics, he is the author, editor or co-editor of several books including Animals & Human Society: Changing Perspectives (1994), The Domestic Dog: Its Evolution, Behavior & Interactions with People (1995), In the Company of Animals (1986, 1996), and Companion Animals & Us (2000).

Niraj Shanbhag

Saturday, March 13

Niraj Shanbhag is a 5th year MD/PhD student at the University of Pennsylvania.  He is currently in the PhD phase of his training in the laboratory of Dr. Roger Greenberg.  He is studying the interplay between DNA damage, chromatin structure, and transcription.  His clinical interests include pediatrics and oncology.

Gail K. Smith

Monday, March 15

Dr. Smith received his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Materials Science Engineering in 1970, a VMD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1974, completed orthopaedic surgical residency training in 1979, and a PhD in engineering in 1982.  Gail has spoken worldwide at both human and veterinary conferences.  He has contributed to the scientific literature more than 150 research articles, book chapters and proceedings.  Dr. Smith has received recognition for research excellence, from organizations such as Smith, Kline, Beecham, the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Kennel Club, and the University of Pennsylvania.  Most recently Dr Smith was awarded the prestigious Iams Saki Patsaama Award for excellence in Orthopaedics by the World Small Animal Veterinary Association. Among Dr Smith’s administrative responsibilities, he has served as Chief of Surgery, Chairman of the Department of Clinical Studies at Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine, and he is a past-president of the Veterinary Orthopaedic Society.

In his research, Dr. Smith has applied engineering principles to investigate the musculoskeletal system in both health and disease.  His work has focused on orthopaedic problems of the spine, the knee and the hip.  In 1993 Dr. Smith founded PennHIP (the of Pennsylvania Hip Improvement Program).  PennHIP is a stress-radiographic, hip screening method capable of determining a dog’s genetic susceptibility to hip dysplasia (hip osteoarthritis, OA) at an age as young as 16 weeks.  Today, PennHIP continues to grow its worldwide network of more than 2000 trained veterinary practitioners.  

Gloria Stoga
Sunday, March 14
 

Sunday, March 14

In 1997, Debra Tosch answered an ad asking for volunteers to help out a non-profit. Founded in 1996, the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (SDF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-governmental organization based in Ojai, California. SDF’s mission is to strengthen disaster response in America by recruiting rescued dogs and partnering them with firefighters and other first responders to find people buried alive in the wreckage of disasters. They also ensure lifetime care for every dog in its program: once rescued, these dogs never need to be rescued again.

From this early start with the Foundation, Debra went on to become a Canine Handler, serving Ventura County and the nation as part of Fema’s CA-TF1 (California Task Force 1) with her partner Abby, a Black Lab. Together Debra and Abby were deployed to national disasters including the World Trade Center Disaster in 2001, the Winter Olympics in 2002, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 They also deployed locally to the La Conchita mudslide in 2005. and participated in many wilderness searches for the local search and rescue team. 

In 2006, Debra retired from active service as a handler to succeed SDF’s Founder as Executive Director. Debra currently serves on the FEMA Canine Sub-Group, a committee of six that helps develop policy for the nation.  She is also a FEMA Search Team Evaluator.  Debra also represents CA-TF1 on the California Emergency Management Agency’s Search Working Group.

Todd Towell

Saturday, March 13

Todd Towell, VMD, MS is in Scientific Affairs with Hill’s Pet Nutrition, where she educates the broader veterinary health care team about using nutrition for health maintenance and management of common disorders. She is active in the AVMA, the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association, and Colorado Veterinary Medical Foundation. Dr. Towell holds a DVM from Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine and a Master’s degree in Veterinary Medical Science from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

Charles J. Wysocki

Sunday, March 14

Dr. Charles J. Wysocki obtained his M.S. in Psychology (1976) and a Ph.D. in Psychobiology (1978) from Florida State University (FSU).  Subsequently, he conducted postdoctoral research at the Monell Center where he is currently a Member and Adjunct Professor of Anatomy in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.  Other current positions include:  Project Officer & Coordinator, US-Russia Scientific Exchange Program in the Chemical Senses and Chemical Communication; Chairman of the Postdoctoral Training Program at Monell.  In 1988 he was honored with two prizes, The Distinguished Graduate Award from the Psychobiology/Neuroscience Program, FSU, and the Kenji Nakanishi Research Award in Olfaction presented by Association for Chemoreception Sciences and in 2002 the Henry G. Walter, Jr. Sense of Smell Award from the Sense of Smell Institute.  He has published over 120 scientific articles, chapters or reviews, is co-editor of a volume on Genetics and Olfaction, and is co-author of two patents on methods to reduce malodors.  His current research interests include individual variation in odor perception (supported by the National Institutes of Health), quality coding in the perception of chemical irritation, mechanisms underlying adaptation and cross-adaptation, and chemical senses and communication in humans and other animals.

M. Christine Zink
Monday, March 15

 

M. Christine Zink, D.V.M., Ph.D., is a consultant on canine sports medicine who designs individualized rehabilitation and conditioning programs for canine athletes. She is the award-winning author of the books Peak Performance: Coaching the Canine Athlete, Dog Health, Nutrition for Dummies and The Agility Advantage and co-author of the book Jumping From A to Z: Teach Your Dog to Soar and the DVD Building the Canine Athlete. She currently is editing the first textbook on canine sports medicine and rehabilitation. Dr. Zink is a member of the committee working to establish the American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation as a specialty through the AVMA American Board of Veterinary Specialties and is Chair of the Credential/Residency Committee, which is developing criteria for training veterinarians in this specialty. She presents seminars worldwide to rave reviews. Dr. Zink’s book The Agility Advantage was awarded the DWAA President’s Award for best dog publication of 2008 and she was named Outstanding Woman Veterinarian of the Year in 2009.