Our Leadership.
Conscience, Competence, Commitment, Courage
Dr. Darryn Knobel, BVSc, MSc, PhD, MRCVS, Dipl. ACVPM (Epi), is director of the Research Center for Conservation Medicine and Ecosystem Health and Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in the Caribbean. Darryn grew up in South Africa and received his veterinary degree from the University of Pretoria. He has focused his career on enhancing knowledge of the epidemiology of rabies in free-roaming dog populations in resource-poor communities in Africa, and in applying this knowledge to improve the health of dogs and the communities in which they live. He has conducted this work in several different countries including South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, and Ethiopia, and has published more than 60 papers and book chapters on the topic of rabies and other zoonotic diseases in animals and people. He holds an adjunct appointment with the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria in South Africa and is a Senior Research Fellow with the One Health Research Foundation. He is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs (ACC&D) and a director of the Canine Rabies Treatment Initiative.
Dr Hugh Rivett-Carnac, BVSc, MRCVS, is a small animal vet, with a keen interest in primary health care, working in his own and other private practices for the twenty years of his career thus far. Much of this time has been in the rabies endemic area of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Hugh has his own story of an exposure to a rabid dog, delayed post exposure treatment, and the anxiety that accompanies such a scenario. This has no doubt added to his passion for more emphasis and expertise to be committed to the prevention and treatment of rabies.
Dr Anthony Zambelli, BSc(Hons)(Zool), BVSc DipSnrMgmt (OU), MMedVet(Med), is the director of the MyVet Group in Durban, South Africa, incorporating generalist and a referral practice specialising in oncology, interventional procedures and internal medicine. Anthony grew up in Johannesburg and received his veterinary undergraduate degree in Pretoria, while also completing an NRF-funded Intercalated degree in Zoology from the University of the Witwatersrand. He worked as a vet in the UK as well as a veterinary business advisor for Hill’s Pet Nutrition while completing a fast-track diploma in senior management through the Open University. From 2003-2006 he was a resident a lecturer at the University of Pretoria and qualified as a specialist physician cum laude. His particular interest is in oncology and interventional procedures, carried out from his 4 private practices and through 4 associated satellite practices in KwaZulu-Natal. He is currently completing a BSc in Archaeology through the University of South Africa. Anthony is committed to the practice of medicine at the highest level, while mentoring colleagues and educating the public on a variety of first- and third world veterinary medical issues.
Dr. Daniela Hughes, VetMed(Germany), MSc(Gyn), PhD(Gyn), DACT, is Head Veterinarian for the Mpopomeni township dog training initiative Funda Nenja which includes weekly clinics, Rabies vaccinations and Rabies talks at local schools. She also provides general veterinary services at Howick Small Animal Clinic, Howick, South Africa. Since 2011, Daniela serves as reviewer for the Journal Reproduction in Domestic Animals.
Academics:
2017: Completion of PhD at the University of Pretoria, Supervisor: Prof. J.O. Nöthling, Co-supervisor: Prof. T.A.E. Stout (University of Utrecht, Netherlands): “Assessment of female and male conception rate and correlation to quality of frozen-thawed semen in the dog”.
2012: Completion of Dissertation through University of Zürich, Supervisor: Prof. W. Kähn, Co-supervisor: Prof. V. Naidoo, Prof. D. Gerber: “Ex vivo influence of carbetocin on equine myometrial muscles and comparison with oxytocin”.
2010: Completion of Masters at the University of Pretoria, Supervisor: Prof. J.O. Nöthling, Co- supervisor: Dr. C. Harper: ‘Parentage Verification of the domestic dog (Canis familiaris) in a multi-sire insemination trial using an international microsatellite test panel”.
Dr Bert Mohr (BVSc, MMedVet, DPhil, Diplomate ECVIM-CA) has worked in the field of animal and laboratory research for over 22 years. He is a registered veterinary specialist in South Africa, a Diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and holds a DPhil from Oxford University. Bert is passionate about research quality and animal welfare. He presents training courses in animal ethics, ethical review, animal research, procedures, policy development & analysis, national and international guidelines, standards and laws.
He serves as a member of several Animal Ethics Committees and working groups and has contributed substantively to the advance of standards for animal care and use for scientific purposes. He provides confidential consulting, auditing and gap analysis of animal care and use programmes, including animal welfare assurance and audits of research facilities. Bert is vice-president of the South African Association for Laboratory Animal Science (SAALAS); member of the South African Veterinary Association’s (SAVA) Animal Ethics & Welfare Committee; and founder member of the Pan-African Network for Laboratory Animal Science and Ethics. He has previously served as Council member of the South African Veterinary Council (SAVC; Chairperson, Specialisation Committee); Council member of the South African National Health Research Ethics Council (NHREC; Chairperson, Animals in Research Committee); Co-chairperson of the African Regional Committee of the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS); and as president of SAALAS.
Bert’s professional focus is supporting sustainable capacity strengthening in South Africa and Africa, nourishing the ethical leaders of the future. He serves as Director of the veterinary-specialist consulting firm, Scientific Veterinary Consulting Inc.; Director of the University of Cape Town’s Centre for Animal Research; and Head of the Division of Veterinary Scientific Services in the University of Cape Town.
Dr. John Bingham, BVSc, PhD., is a veterinary pathologist based at the CSIRO Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness, one of the principal high containment laboratories in the world. He has a particular interest in the mechanisms by which viruses cause disease in their animal hosts. He qualified as a veterinarian in 1988 from the University of Zimbabwe and in 1999 was awarded a PhD for his work on rabies in jackals and domestic dogs. He has led national rabies diagnostic facilities, first in Zimbabwe and then in South Africa. In 2001, he took his current position as a pathologist at ACDP in Australia, where he diversified his expertise to other viruses including highly pathogenic avian influenza, Hendra virus, West Nile virus and bluetongue virus, and the prion agents. His team at ACDP contributes to the national animal infectious disease outbreak responses. The team’s research agenda focusses on the pathogenesis of neurotropic viruses for the purpose of discovering mechanism of infection control and functional neuron biology.
Dr. Alan Jackson, MD, FRCPC, is a retired Professor of Medicine (Neurology) and of Medical Microbiology and Head of the Section of Neurology at University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (2007 – 2019). He continues working as a neurologist at Thompson General Hospital in Thompson, Manitoba, Canada and at Lake of the Woods District Hospital in Kenora, Ontario, Canada. He graduated from Queen’s University with BA (magna cum laude) and MD degrees. He completed an internship in internal medicine at University of Southern California, residencies in internal medicine at Queen’s University and in neurology at Western University (formerly University of Western Ontario), and a fellowship in neurovirology at The Johns Hopkins University with the late Dr. Richard Johnson. Dr. Jackson previously held a faculty position at Queen’s University (1987 – 2007).
He was the first President of Rabies in the Americas, Inc. and he serves on its Board of Directors and he also served on the Board of Directors of the International Society for Neurovirology. He has been the Chair of the Clinical Faculty Committee of the Canadian Association of University Teachers from 2005 to 2021. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the American Neurological Association, and the American Academy of Neurology. Dr. Jackson has many research publications on viral infections of the nervous system, particularly on rabies, and other neurological diseases and he has been the principal investigator on research grants to study experimental aspects of rabies and also on clinical trials in neurology. He has also edited/co-edited five books on rabies and one on viral infections of the nervous system.
Dr. Noël Tordo got his PhD in Virology in 1988 (Paris VII). He is currently Head of the Unit Antiviral Strategies at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. He is also Head of the OIE Reference Laboratories on Rift Valley Fever and Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever. Following the unprecedented Ebola Outbreak in Western Africa, he is present in Conakry since 2016 to built the “Institut Pasteur de Guinée”, the n°33 and younger one among the Institut Pasteur International Network.
Noël Tordo is interested in both fundamental and translational aspects of emerging viral diseases, mainly zoonoses (rabies, viral haemorrhagic fevers…) analysed under a “One Health” approach. with worldwide collaborations. His main scientific contributions have concerned the molecular and cellular biology of (re)emerging virus: (1) the detection of the virus in the animal vector ; (2) the molecular interactions and potential co-evolution with its hosts ; (3) the mechanism that accompany the necessary dynamic allowing to jump across the species barrier, from animal to human ; (4) the development of future therapies, based on vaccines or antivirals.
Noël Tordo is strongly involved in knowledge transmission, Director of the course of Fundamental Virology at the Institut Pasteur for >20 years, Organiser of regular national or international conferences such as the « European Meeting on Viral Zoonosis » or the « European Congress of Virology – 2013- Lyon ». He is first vice-President of the « European Society for Virology », President of the « Société Française de Virologie » and expert in various scientific committees in France and abroad. He has got awards for the French Academies of Science and Medicine, from the Ministry of Education and Research and he his a Member of the French Veterinary Academy.
Noël Tordo has published more than 160 articles / revues, and participated to numerous Meetings and Conferences worldwide.
Dr. Hildegund Ertl is the Director WHO Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Rabies. She also is Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Associate Faculty of the School of Medicine at The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA. She currently serves as a member of numerous groups: Gene Therapy Graduate Group, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, Biosafety Committee of the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee, as well as the Immunology Graduate Group, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. She also serves as ad-hoc reviewer for NIAID and NIH and previously as section editor for the Journal of Immunology.
Previously, Dr. Ertl taught at Harvard Medical School, Dept. Pathology, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA. She was the leader of the Immunology Program at The Wistar Institure Cancer Center and was the Director of the Wistar Vaccine Center. She served on the Oversight Committee RAID Review Program, NCI-NIH and as reviewer for the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee.
She is working towards the development of a simian-adenovirus-vectored rabies vaccine intended to enable cost-effective population-wide pre-exposure prophylaxis against rabies. She was part of the first group to use E1-deleted adenovirus vectors as vaccine carriers and the first group to use so-called genetic adjuvants in form of plasmid vectors encoding a biologically active molecule such as a cytokine.
Dr. Kenneth Joubert graduated with a BVSc from The University of Pretoria in 1995. After graduating he joined small animal practice in Johannesburg for 2 years before returning to the University of Pretoria. In 2000 he obtained a MMedVet (Anaes) and held the position of senior lecturer in anaesthesiology at the university. In 2004 he left the university to re-join private practice before starting his own referral practice in anaesthesiology, pain management and critical care. Kenneth has published 42 scientific publications, delivered 87 scientific presentations, delivered 162 continuing education talks, done 16 multimedia presentations, published 39 non-scientific articles, presented 9 courses, written one book chapter and attended 66 congress of continuing education. Kenneth currently runs a private practice dedicated to anaesthesia, analgesia and intensive care. He has regularly examined students in pharmacology, anaesthesiology and clinical studies. Kenneth has and is currently involved in the supervision of 5 students for masters and PhD.
Kenneth has a keen interest in total intravenous anaesthesia, intensive care, ventilation and cardiology. His research interests include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents, anaesthetic depth monitoring and total intra-venous anaesthesia.
Kenneth chaired the Faculty Ethics Committee (Animal Use and Care Committee) until it was dissolved to form a University based Animal Use and Care Committee. I was then a member of the Senate committee for Research Ethics and Integrity and the Animal Use and Care Committee of the University of Pretoria. Kenneth currently serves on the AUCC (RECA) Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and the Ethical Review Group of the AVA.He is also a member of the Education Committee and the Standard Committee of the South African Veterinary Council.
Dr. Reeta S. Mani is a clinical virologist, currently an Additional Professor of Neurovirology and Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference & Research in Rabies at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India. Her areas of interest include viral infections of the central nervous system and respiratory infections. Her major focus of work has been in the field of Rabies-including clinical, diagnostic and preventive aspects. She is Member-Technical Committee of Experts, National Rabies Control Programme, India and WHO Rabies Expert Committee Working Group on Laboratory Diagnostics. She has several scientific publications including papers and book chapters to her credit and has participated in various national and international deliberations.
Dr. James Yeates has written extensively on animal welfare and veterinary ethics. He holds degrees in veterinary science, medical ethics, a PhD and MBA, and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. His current focus is on the links of animal welfare, human wellbeing and sustainability, particularly ensuring that One Health initiatives genuinely promote and protect animal welfare and the environment as well as human wellbeing.
Dr. Susan M. Moore, MS, PhD, HCLD(ABB) is an Associate Clinical Professor/Section Head One Health Laboratory in the Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Missouri. Additionally, she is the President and Founder of Compass Rabies Consulting and an adjunct professor at Kansas State University (KSU), formerly (2014-2020) the Rabies Laboratory Director at KSU. She began her first career after being awarded a BS in Medical Technology (MT) degree from KSU and ASCP MT certification working in human clinical labs and at the American Red Cross Blood Services, concentrating in the specialty of immunohematology. This experience/training in blood group serology qualified her to obtained advanced certification as a Specialist in Blood Banking through ASCP.
Later she earned MS and PhD degrees in Pathobiology at KSU/CVM, after embarking on her second career focusing on rabies. She is certified through the American Board of Bioanalysis as a High Complexity Laboratory Director. In the 20 plus years she spent at the KSU Rabies Laboratory, the largest rabies serology center in the world, she gained expertise in rabies serology techniques for the purpose of serological monitoring in vaccinated humans and animals, research and clinical studies. She consults with research and pharmaceutical clients on rabies diagnostic methods and results. Her publications primarily cover laboratory quality assurance and the correlation of rabies serology and protection which is a vital point of understanding in rabies prophylaxis. She serves/ed on several rabies national and international committees/workgroups, including those within WHO, USDA, FDA, ACIP, APHL, and the OIE.DA, ACIP, APHL, and the OIE.
Dr. Andy Gibson is a veterinarian undertaking a PhD in rabies epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh and holds a research role at the charity Mission Rabies. He has ten years of experience conducting operational research into the nuts and bolts of rabies control programs; identifying the barriers to efficient scale; and developing tools and methodologies to overcome them. He leads the development of technologies to aid the implementation and evaluation of large-scale interventions through data-driven strategies. The improved quality of programmatic data generated through these systems have improved the efficiency and coordination of field activities for rabies surveillance and dog vaccination at project sites in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Other areas of research include developing scalable methods for robust One Health investigation of suspect rabid dogs and bite events and expanding access to rabies diagnostic tests.
Dr. Charles E. Rupprecht, VMD, MS, PhD, is CEO and independent biomedical consultant with LYSSA, LLC. He serves as Expert Technical Advisor on Rabies for WHO and is on the International Steering Committee for Rabies in the America, Inc.
He has served as Director of World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Rabies Reference and Research, CDC; Chief of the Rabies Program at the CDC; Head of World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) International Reference Laboratory for Rabies, CDC; Director of Research for the Global Alliance for Rabies Control.
He was the Associate Dean/Professor, Epidemiology & Public Heath, Ross University, School of Veterinary Medicine; Adjunct Professor at Auburn University, Wistar Institute, and at Emory University in the Population Biology, Ecology, & Evolution Training Program. He also was Associate Professor at Thomas Jefferson University in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. He began his career as a Bat Biologist on Barro Colorado Island for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.
He was awarded his V.M.D from the University of Pennsylvania in Veterinary Medicine; his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in Biological Sciences; his MS from the University of Wisconsin in Zoology; and his B.A. from Rutgers University in Ecology.