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News from the FAZD Center
The National Center for Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Disease Defense is a Department of Homeland Security University Center of Excellence and a crucial component of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The FAZD Center is led by Texas A&M University and includes three other partners. They are the University of Texas Medical Branch; the University of California at Davis; and the University of Southern California.
'Homeland Security: Inside & Out' to broadcast interview with FAZD Center director
An interview with Dr. Neville P. Clarke, director of the FAZD Center, is scheduled to air Thursday, May 11, on the public radio program "Homeland Security: Inside & Out." The show begins at 8:30 p.m. Eastern, 7:30 Central. The broadcast is available worldwide through the web site of KAMU-FM.
In the May 2006 issue of the FAZD Center newsletter:
- Six veterinary graduates have been recruited through the FAZD Center to enhance the nation’s capacity to respond to the threats of foreign animal and zoonotic diseases. The six are pursuing a master's degree in veterinary public health that is consistent with the mission of the Department of Homeland Security.
- Researchers at the FAZD Center may have narrowed the field among vaccine candidates against infectious brucella aerosols. The team is seeking the best ways to deliver the vaccines.
- A
statistical model designed to help the nation prevent and respond to an
outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease is running faster and more
efficiently than ever, according to its designer.
- FAZD Center investigators are redirecting their efforts to meet an urgent call to develop DIVA vaccines and associated diagnostic tests. The DIVA strategy (Differentiating Infected from Vaccinated Animals) allows chickens that are vaccinated, but still carrying the virus, to be identified by a molecular diagnostic test.
To read, click here.
The FAZD Center remembers team leader Dr. Jerry W. Stuth
Dr. Jerry
W. Stuth, a team leader for the FAZD Center and the Kelleher Professor in Grazingland
Management at Texas A&M University,
died Monday, April 24, in Houston
after a long struggle with cancer. 
His
Texas A&M colleagues have created a online condolence book for those who wish to
pass along their messages and memories to his family.
Dr. Stuth was an integral part of the National Center for Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Disease Defense (FAZD), a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) University Center of Excellence.
As science leader for the Information, Modeling and Analysis team, Dr. Stuth provided the vision and roadmap for developing the next generation of analytic capacity to address the DHS’ priority areas, thereby allowing more precise assessment of potential threats to U.S. animal agriculture. Dr. Stuth’s role was crucial in bringing together the scientists using disparate models from the biological, epidemiological, economic, environmental, and production disciplines to agree on a common framework for integrating and linking these models into a scaleable decision support system.
He also was a widely recognized national and international leader in the development and application of information technology in grazingland ecosystems.
“As a member of the team that competed for the Department of Homeland Security’s National Center of Excellence designation, Jerry played a vital role in establishing the FAZD Center,” said Dr. Neville P. Clarke, director of the FAZD Center. “His contributions as a leader, a scientist and a teacher are impressive to anyone who worked with him or learned from him. We will miss him as a peer and as a friend.”
The family of Dr. Stuth asks that donations be made to Mercy Corps or to the Scholarship Fund at the Department of Rangeland Ecology and Management at Texas A&M University, Texas A&M University Foundation, 401 George Bush Drive, College Station, TX 77840. Attention: In Memory of Dr. Stuth.
Now you can download papers and presentations on biosecurity
The FAZD Center's papers and presentations on biosecurity are now available online. The documents are divided into four categories:
- Decision making: Investigations into the decision process in the event of an outbreak.
- Market analysis: Reports regarding how outbreaks might affect markets.
- Carcass disposal: Studies examining the economics of carcass disposal during an outbreak.
- Literature review: Examinations of available literature concerning agricultural biosecurity.
For a list of available documents and to download them, click here.