Avian Influenza Global Expert Group
The Avian Influenza Global Expert Group was established in September 2015 and brings together top scientists and experts from around the world to propose practical solutions to combat avian influenza in the short, medium and long term.
The group brings together senior representatives from International Organisations, world class scientists and industry representatives. Priority has been given to highlighting the huge importance of biosecurity in preventing the initial outbreak and reducing subsequent transmission.
Aims
- To deliver, or facilitate integrated, global practical solutions to prevent and combat avian influenza in the short, medium and long term.
- To come up with practical ways of changing the egg industry to better manage this threat.
- To pursue the ultimate long term goal of moving the commercial egg industry beyond Avian Influenza.
- To contribute to informed dialogue and decision making in the public interest.
- To be the link between the egg industry and the WOAH; with WOAH involved specifically on the issues of vaccination, long term goals and long term solutions.
Ben Dellaert
Chair of Avian Influenza Global Expert Group
Ben Dellaert is the Director of AVINED, the Dutch national organisation for poultry and eggs. It represents the complete production chain for the production of poultry meat and eggs (farmers, hatcheries, slaughterhouses, egg packing stations and egg processors).
Ben has been an IEC member since 1999 and served as Chairman from 2015-2017. From 2007-2014 he was the General Director of the Product Board Poultry and Eggs in the Netherlands. In 1989 he graduated at the Agricultural University of Wageningen (Animal Production Science). After that he worked for several organisations in the Dutch agricultural business.
Dr Craig Rowles
Craig graduated from the Iowa State University College of Veterinary medicine in 1982. He moved to Carroll, Iowa, where he entered mixed animal practice with an emphasis in swine until 1996. Craig then left practice and entered into swine production and served as general manager and partner of Elite Pork Partnership, an 8,000 sow farrow to finish operation until 2014. Since then he has served as General Manager of Cage Free Operations for Versova Management Company. Versova owns and manages 30 million layers in Iowa and Ohio.
Dr David Swayne
Dr David E. Swayne is a veterinarian with specialisation as a Veterinary Pathologist and Poultry Veterinarian. For the past 34 years, his personal research has focused on pathobiology and control of avian influenza in poultry and other avian species.
He has applied such science knowledge to global avian influenza control through ad-hoc committees and secondment to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) and leadership in the WOAH/FAO Animal Influenza Expert Network (OFFLU). Previously, he was the Laboratory Director at the US National Poultry Research Center’s high biocontainment research laboratory, which focuses on research in avian influenza and Newcastle disease.
Professor Ian Brown OBE
Professor Ian Brown has been working as Head of Virology for over 10 years and recently has assumed the role of Director of Scientific Services, where he will lead the Animal and Plant Health Agency Science Programme. He is also a Director of WOAH/FAO International Reference Laboratories for Avian Influenza, Newcastle Disease and Swine Influenza. Ian is the UK national expert on Avian & Swine Influenza, and Newcastle Disease and a designated WOAH expert for the three diseases and has led science response for the AI outbreak 2021-2022.
He provides a broad range of disease consultancy at both international and national level to a wide range of stakeholders on all the aforementioned diseases. Ian is an adviser to Poultry Health and Welfare Group and regular speaker for British Veterinary Poultry Association. Ian is also a founder member of the OFFLU Laboratory Network and has taken the lead on a number of key international issues related to the work of this group both on the avian and swine subgroups. He is currently chairperson of OFFLU. Ian has undertaken country specific missions to advise on the control of HPAI. His specific research interests include the epidemiology, pathogenicity, transmission and infection dynamics in relation to the control of influenza in animal hosts including zoonotic threat.
Ian holds a visiting Professorship position in Avian Virology at the University of Nottingham and Honorary Professorship in Pathobiology and Population Sciences with Royal Veterinary College, London.
Dr Ian Rubinoff
Dr. Ian Rubinoff is Director of Sales for Hy-Line North America, providing sales and technical support for health issues, data, lighting, vaccination programmes, management, nutrition, welfare, and biosecurity. He also collaborates on internal and external research projects by discussing and providing ideas, writing protocols, and conducting experiments.
Dr. Rubinoff started working with avian influenza in Dr. Dave Halvorson’s laboratory at the University of Minnesota collecting wild bird samples. On the global side, Dr. Rubinoff worked with many farms where both highly pathogenic and low pathogenic avian influenza was required due to the endemic nature in these countries.
Dr Travis Schaal
Dr. Travis Schaal serves as a Senior Key Account Manager with Boehringer Ingelheim, supporting egg layer producers in the USA.
He previously worked in the egg layer primary breeder industry, supervising farm and hatchery operations. He was responsible for biosecurity, animal welfare, flock health programs, and worked with distributor operations globally to produce hatching eggs and day-old layer chicks.
Dr. Schaal received an Honors B.S. degree in Animal Sciences and his D.V.M. from Oregon State University, and board certification as a Diplomate of the American College of Poultry Veterinarians.
Dr Wenqing Zhang
Heading the WHO Global Influenza Programme since November 2012, Dr Zhang provides leadership and coordinates global influenza surveillance and monitoring, detection of emerging novel viruses, risk assessment and evidence for policies, vaccine viruses and pandemic preparedness.
From 2002 to 2012, Dr Zhang coordinated the WHO global surveillance of influenza. In response to 2009 A(H1N1) influenza pandemic, Dr Zhang directed the WHO Laboratory Response and Capacity. In the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Zhang led the sentinel surveillance of SARS-CoV-2. Before joining WHO, Dr Zhang worked on tuberculosis, schistosomiasis and iodine deficiency disorder in China. She graduated from Medical School, Zhejiang University, with a bachelor degree on biomedical engineering and did postgraduate training on system evaluation and epidemiology.
Kevin Lovell
Scientific Advisor
Kevin Lovell is a consultant scientific advisor to the IEC. He has served on a number of WOAH ad hoc groups, has been part of a disaster planning team for the UN and is also a trade advisor and negotiator.
Kevin’s previous position was as the CEO of the South African Poultry Association (SAPA) for eleven years. Prior to joining SAPA he served in various executive positions for the Royal Bafokeng Nation. He has also been the managing director of the Southern African subsidiary of a multinational dairy equipment company and has also worked as a sales and technical manager for various other agricultural companies. He has over 35 years of agribusiness experience throughout the eastern seaboard of Africa, from Ethiopia to South Africa.
Kevin has a BSc in agriculture from the University of Natal and a B.Inst. Agrar. (Hons) from the University of Pretoria. He has also done post graduate research work and has also acquired a range of business qualifications and skills over the years.