Alda Pires (DVM, MPVM, PhD, DACVPM) is currently an Associate Professor of Cooperative Extension for Urban Agriculture and Food Safety in the Department of Population Health and Reproduction at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, California, US. Dr. Pires obtained her DVM from UTAD in Portugal, then completed a residency program in Food Animal Reproduction and Herd Health and obtained a Masters of Preventive Veterinary Medicine (MPVM) at UC Davis. Dr. Pires received her PhD from Michigan State University with an emphasis in veterinary epidemiology. She is also diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine (ACVPM).
Dr. Pires’ research focuses on developing and applying epidemiological tools to monitor food safety hazards, identifying mitigation strategies to reduce the dissemination of foodborne pathogens in pre-harvest crops, and the spread of infectious diseases in agricultural systems (including integrated crop-livestock, diversified, organic farms, small-scale and backyard farms). Dr. Pires works directly with Extension Advisor Specialists, educators, producers, stakeholders, and policy makers on various produce safety issues to minimize the introduction and dissemination of foodborne pathogens within the pre-harvest farm environment, both at statewide and nationwide levels. The overarching objective of her appointment is to advance agricultural sustainability, food safety, and animal health for organic, diversified production systems and urban farming systems. For more information of her current work: https://linktr.ee/pireslab
Dr. Amelia Gaudin and her team explores how diversification, particularly crop livestock integration and healthy soil ecosystems can help agriculture meet its sustainability and resilience goals. They integrate concepts and methodologies from various disciplines to measure outcomes of ecological intensification and regenerative strategies on soil health, C sequestration and drought resilience. Dr. Gaudin's team also studies plant-microbe interactions in the rhizosphere and the ecological functions central to crop production in regenerative systems.
Dr. Bart C. Weimer is the Chair and Professor of Microbiology in the Department of Population Health and Reproduction within the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis. His research is focused on the intersection of food, health, and the microbiome using bacterial population genomics. Included in his research direction is the use of systems biology, population genomics, and machine learning to examine the role of bacteria to be bioactive. He leads the 100K Pathogen Genome Sequencing Project, which enables reference genomics for surveillance, population evolution, and metagenomic studies. He is active in various international organizations for microbiology and science including the American Society for Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His lab is fortunate to receive extensive funding from many sources including the US federal government, the food industry, and the analytical genomics industry, that seek to impact the global attention to bacterial spread and persistence. Dr. Weimer has a leadership role in microbial genomics and bacterial physiology that brings about collaborations at the interface of adjacent fields with the aim of bringing new ideas into microbiology so as to leverage new approaches to study critical questions within bacterial growth, evolution, and persistence in humans, animals, plants, and the environment broadly. Dr. Weimer is the founding editor-in-chief for Bacteria, a section editor for Virulence, an editor for Microorganisms, and on the editorial board of four additional scientific journals. He has trained over 45 Ph.D. students, published over 190 peer-reviewed papers that are broadly cited and has been awarded multiple patents related to bacteria and their ability to change our environment. He has published 6 books, 30 book chapters, and 215 manuscripts and has 9 patents.
Dr. Pereira obtained his veterinary degree in 2008 from the Federal University of Uberlandia, Brazil. From 2008 to 2011 he completed three years of clinical training in food animals health and reproduction at the University of Florida and Cornell University. In 2015 he completed his Ph.D. degree at Cornell University with a focus on Epidemiology and Statistics. Since 2015 Dr. Pereira has been a faculty at the University of California Davis, where he is an Associate Professor and a clinician in the Livestock Herd Health and Reproduction Service. Dr. Pereira is also board-certified in the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine (ACVPM). His research focuses on the emergence, persistence, and transmission ecology of antimicrobial-resistant and zoonotic bacteria in livestock, to develop applied interventions to improve antimicrobial stewardship through practices that are feasible, sustainable, and secure animal health and wellbeing.
Dr. Brittney Goodrich is an Assistant Professor of Cooperative Extension in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Goodrich obtained a BS in Math and Economics at Iowa State University and Masters and PhD degrees in Agricultural Economics at University of California, Davis. Her research and extension program focuses on how California perennial crop growers and beekeepers address risk and uncertainty in their operations, enhancing the long-term sustainability of these industries. A primary topic of interest is the use of contracts between almond growers and beekeepers in the almond pollination market, where the precariousness of honey bee colony health makes contracting practices important to grower and beekeeper profitability.
Dr. Rosie Busch is the Sheep and Goat Extension Veterinarian with UC Cooperative Extension and the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. She received her DVM from UC Davis, joined a rural mixed animal practice in Hollister, CA before returning to UC Davis to complete a residency in Large Animal Internal Medicine focusing on livestock. She has years of practical experience working in the Livestock Medicine & Surgery service at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, teaching students and residents. Dr. Busch then went to work for the California Department of Food and Agriculture with a team of scientists developing evidence-based resources for veterinarians and livestock owners on antimicrobial stewardship. As extension veterinarian she is currently collaborating on a number of studies looking at practical approaches to improve youngstock survival and maternal health and longevity.
Dr. Joanna G. Rothwell is a Postdoctoral Research Scholar in the Pires Lab at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, specializing in food safety research and microbiology. Dr. Rothwell will be working with the Pires Lab to assess the food safety impacts of integrated crop-livestock systems in organic orchards. Prior to this, Dr. Rothwell completed a Ph. D. in Microbiology at the University of Sydney, Australia with a project investigating the efficacy of current and novel postharvest treatments in fresh produce production. Dr. Rothwell's primary research interests include reducing foodborne pathogens in fresh food, promoting sustainable farming practices, and exploring the intersections between food safety, animal agriculture, and human health.
Dr. Niuniu Ji is a Postdoctoral Research Scholar in the Gaudin Lab at UC Davis, specializing in plant-microbiome interactions and ecosystem functions. Dr. Ji will be working with the Gaudin Lab to understand how the livestock grazing affects plant-soil-microbe interactions to regulate the nitrogen cycling in orchard ecosystem Prior to joining the Gaudin lab, Dr Ji focused on understanding how the plant-microbiome interactions affect nitrogen cycling in bioenergy crops.
Dr. Houston Wilson is an Assoc. Cooperative Extension Specialist in the Department of Entomology at UC Riverside. His research focuses on integrated pest management practices for orchards and vineyards. More recently, Dr. Wilson was also appointed Director of the newly created UC Organic Agriculture Institute, where he works to facilitate the development of research and extension programs for organic agriculture. While his home campus is UC Riverside, Houston’s lab is actually based off-campus near Fresno at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center.
Dr. Sciligo is the Director of Science Programs and directs projects associated with communicating and conducting research related to organic agriculture. She has extensive experience communicating scientific research to the public, farmers, policymakers and other researchers and has managed several OREI-funded conferences and planning grant projects. The main goal of Dr. Sciligo’s research is to understand how farming practices that promote biodiversity and ecosystem services can be better supported at all farm scales. She hopes that by finding barriers to and opportunities for adoption, policy can more feasibly support farmers to adopt practices that simultaneously protect the land and support the economic health of their farms, while improving their own livelihoods and the livelihoods of their local communities.
Dr. Elias Miller is the Science Programs Manager at The Organic Center, where he leads initiatives to advance scientific understanding and promote sustainable practices in agriculture. With a background in environmental studies and biology, Elias is deeply invested in integrating Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) principles within science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, enhancing science education, and improving food systems.
Elias' research interests in STEM education and ecology inform his role of overseeing impactful research programs within the organic agriculture sector. His work at The Organic Center reflects his commitment to advancing both scientific knowledge and practical solutions that benefit the environment and communities.
Outside of his professional endeavors, Elias manages a multi-species rotational grazing system, including a flock of laying hens and sheep, demonstrating his dedication to sustainable farming practices. Elias’ unique combination of scientific expertise and personal passion for agriculture underscores his dedication to practices that ensure a sustainable future for farming. His primary role will be to manage and coordinate communication and administrative efforts required to execute all outreach tasks for The Organic Center.
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The Organic Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit research and education organization based out of Washington D.C. Our mission is to conduct and convene credible, evidence-based science on the environmental and health effects of organic food and farming and communicate the findings to the public.