Bio

Dr. Kim Dodd is the Director of the Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (FADDL) on Plum Island. FADDL is a national reference laboratory for USDA Veterinary Services and the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN), as well as an international reference laboratory for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). It is currently the only laboratory in the U.S. in which work is allowed with specific high-consequence foreign animal diseases (FAD), including foot and mouth disease (FMD) and Rinderpest, both Tier 1 select agents. In addition to the Diagnostic Services Section and the Reagents and Vaccine Services Section, FADDL also maintains the North American Food-and-Mouth Disease Vaccine Bank and provides foreign animal disease diagnostician training to domestic and international animal health professions. Kim leads the APHIS Science transition planning efforts, as well as development of the expanded FADDL mission at the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility (NBAF), which will include emerging, zoonotic and high-consequence BSL-4 pathogens. To support the additional workforce needs at NBAF, APHIS developed a nationwide graduate training program for scientists interested in pursuing a career with APHIS, the NBAF Scientist Training Program (NSTP).

Kim is a veterinarian and virologist; she received her DVM and PhD from the University of California-Davis. Before joining FADDL, she served as the Senior Scientist at Metabiota, a company focused on strengthening laboratory and surveillance capacity globally to prepare, prevent and respond to disease outbreaks. Kim worked in Central and West Africa to facilitate collaborations with international agencies and African governments, and served as Program Director for the CDC Global Health Security Agenda. Prior to that, she was a scientist in the Viral Special Pathogens Branch at CDC, where she developed a novel vaccine for Rift Valley fever virus, and characterized animal models for hemorrhagic fever viruses (including Ebola, Lassa, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and Rift Valley fever viruses).  During and after her time at CDC, she played an active role in CDC field laboratory response to filoviruses outbreaks, most recently for the West Africa Ebola outbreak in 2014.

Abstract

USDA Science Programs at the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility (NBAF)

The National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) is a new 574,000 square foot biocontainment laboratory facility in Manhattan, KS that will provide state-of-the-art infrastructure for developing vaccines, performing diagnostics, and developing countermeasures against large animal foreign animal diseases (FADs) and zoonotic diseases. USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) researchers at NBAF will work to deliver scientific information and countermeasures to protect U.S. agriculture and combat threats to public health from foreign animal diseases that exist in animals but can infect humans. The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (FADDL) protects U.S. livestock from foreign and emerging diseases by conducting diagnostic testing of suspicious animal health situations and training veterinarians in the detection of high consequence animal diseases. This session will highlight the current and expanded research and diagnostic programs by ARS and APHIS.