Bio

Roxann Brooks Motroni is the National Program Leader for Animal Health at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS).  In this role, she provides the strategic direction and national coordination for USDA’s intramural research program focused on bacterial and parasitic diseases of importance to animal health in 9 research locations across the country.  She is also actively involved in coordinating and communicating the agency’s research in antimicrobial resistance (AMR).  Additionally, she serves as ARS’s representative on many interagency groups.  Prior to this position, she was a program manager and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Chemical and Biological Defense Division (CBD) in the Agriculture Defense Branch.  Her program funded between $10-15M per annum to provide discovery, early development, test and evaluation of countermeasures for foreign animal diseases that could have catastrophic impacts on the U.S. economy.  She holds a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine and a PhD in Comparative Pathology from the University of California, Davis and completed advanced training in food animal ambulatory and production medicine at the University of Tennessee.  She remains actively involved in mentoring pre-vet and veterinary students as well as AAAS Fellows.

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.