Current membership of PulseNet International Steering Committee.
Brief biographies of Steering Committee Members:
Dr Peter Gerner-Smidt is MD, DMSc. with a specialty in clinical microbiology. He received his MD from University of Aarhus, Denmark and his DMSc. from University of Copenhagen, Denmark, his research topic being the taxonomy and epidemiology of Acinetobacter, a nosocomial pathogen. He held the position of Head of the Danish Reference Centre for Enteric Pathogens and Listeria at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen from 1995- 2004 where he represented the institute at the national level in the Danish Zoonosis Centre, and at the international level, in EnterNet, the European network for surveillance of Salmonella, STEC and Campylobacter. He was the first coordinator of PulseNet Europe, the European network for molecular surveillance of foodborne infections. In 2004, he moved to the United States to become chief of the Epidemiological Investigations and PulseNet Unit at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, GA (USA); today he is the acting chief of the Enteric Diseases Laboratory Branch (proposed) at CDC, Atlanta, chief of PulseNet USA and chairman of the PulseNet international Steering Committee. Dr. Gerner-Smidt’s research interests are molecular epidemiology, including subtyping and identification of foodborne, zoonotic and enteric bacterial pathogens.
Nikki Maxwell is the international PulseNet coordinator at CDC, Atlanta, GA, USA. She has a Bachelor of Science in Biology with emphasis on molecular biology from Hampton University, VA and her Master of Science in Public Health in Parasitology from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans. She has extensive experience with international work and travel through living and working for half a year in Tanzania and for two years in South Africa during the late 90s. She came to PulseNet after working as a surveillance epidemiologist for the WHO Global Salm Surv program at CDC from 2005- 2008.
Dr Celine Nadon Section Head, PulseNet Canada. Emerging Bacterial Pathogens Division, Bacteriology and Enteric Diseases Program, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada (Winnipeg, Canada). Dr Nadon received her Ph.D. from Cornell University (2003; New York, USA) and her Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from the University of Manitoba (1996, 1998; Winnipeg, Canada). Prior to joining the Public Health Agency of Canada?s PulseNet team in 2006, Celine served as a post-doctoral associate at the United States Department of Agriculture?s Food Safety and Inspection Service in Washington, D.C. (USA). As the Section Head for PulseNet Canada, she oversees all operations, network coordination, database administration, and research. She also holds the position of an Adjunct Professor with the Department of Medical Microbiology within the Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Manitoba.
Dr Enrique Perez Gutierrez, Food Safety Officer, Pan-American Health Organization, Area of Health Surveillance and Disease Management (based on Rio de Janeiro Brazil). Dr. Perez was born and raised in Costa Rica. He received his DVM from the National University of Costa Rica, a Master in Preventive Medicine from the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil, a Master in Veterinary Preventive Medicine from the University of California in Davis and his PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Utrecht in The Netherlands. In 1981 he was hired by the National University in Costa Rica as assistant professor. He obtained tenure position as Associate Professor in 1986 and became a full Professor in 1995. During that time he was lecturer on the under-graduated level in Herd Health, Preventive Medicine and Public Health and on the graduate level in General Epidemiology, Study design, Analytical Epidemiology, Epidemiological Modeling. He was also responsible for academic coordination of a Master course in Epidemiology for the human health sector of Costa Rica (Ministry of Health, Social Security System, Diagnostic laboratory) and team leader of the population medicine research program. In 1999 he was hired by Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Cooperation (IICA), as an agricultural health and food safety specialist providing technical cooperation in modernization of agricultural health systems to member countries in Latin American and the Caribbean. In November 2001, Dr. Perez entered at the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) as Chief Technical Cooperation in the Pan American Institute for Food Protection and Zoonosis-INPPAZ. PAHO/WHO, responsible for developing, managing, conducting and evaluating the Institute?s program of field services; providing technical cooperation to national programs in health and agriculture with emphasis in food safety; promoting international coordination between health and agriculture sectors; and promoting and carrying out research in food safety and foodborne disease in the Institute and in Member Countries. Since 2006 after a reorganization of the technical cooperation in food safety at PAHO, he is based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as Food Safety Officer, responsible for technical cooperation to member countries in the development of risk-based, sustainable, integrated food safety systems. Since 2002, he has been actively involved in WHO-GSS program and in December 2003 supported the creation of PulseNet Latin America. He is also involved in FERG (Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiological Reference Group from WHO and is actively involved in foodborne burden of disease studies and antimicrobial resistance studies along the Americas.
Dr Eva M. Nielsen has a Master of Science (food technology; 1987) and PhD (microbiology; 1991). She is senior researcher and leader of the unit for Typing and Surveillance of Gastrointestinal Infections at Statens Serum Institut, Denmark. At present, she is head of the steering committee of PulseNet Europe in the transient period with no funding and no coordinator (from MedVetNet funding to the take-over by ECDC). Main research area in the last twelve years: Studies of the epidemiology of zoonotic bacterial infections in food production animals and humans, including molecular characterization of Campylobacter, Salmonella, pathogenic E. coli, and Listeria. Research and development related to improved surveillance of zoonotic infections. Methods include development of molecular typing methods, establishment of serotyping system for Campylobacter, detection of virulence factors in E. coli.
Dr Guillermo "Billy" Pimentel obtained his PhD degree from Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, under the supervision of Dr. Lori M. Carris. He worked with the molecular characterization and population genetics of a group of fungal pathogens within the genus Tilletia that infect wheat and other crops of economical importance. After completing his degree in 1999, he obtained a direct commission as a Lieutenant in the US Navy, working as a Microbiologist. He spent four years (1999-2003) as Team Leader, Microbiology Laboratory, at the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Virginia, training in Clinical Microbiology, Laboratory Management and Military Infectious Disease Research. In 2003, he transferred to the US Naval Medical Research Unit #3 in Cairo, Egypt as Deputy Head, Disease Surveillance Program. His lab is actively working with the characterization of Brucella, Leptospira, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, Vibrio cholera, and Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamases producers bacteria. In addition, he assists WHO/EMRO and other regional partners in the implementation and management of disease surveillance networks for emerging and well-known infectious diseases in the Middle East, West Africa and Central Asia.
Dr Kai-Man Kam is presently Consultant Medical Microbiologist in the Public Health Laboratories, Centre for Health Protection, Department of Health, Hong Kong. He is a Diplomate of American Board of Medical Microbiology, and Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists. He is now in charge of the Food and Water section in the Microbiology Division, Public Health Laboratory Services Branch, which serves as the main public health testing laboratory for food and water borne infections. Dr Kam is editor of the Federation of European Microbiological Societies Immunology and Medical Microbiology journal, as well as in the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.
Dr Lai-King Ng Director, Bacteriology and Enteric Diseases Program National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada (Winnipeg, Canada). Dr. Lai-King Ng was born and raised in Hong Kong and moved to Canada in 1970. She received her Batchelor of Science, Master of Science, and Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Alberta. Dr. Ng then moved to Ottawa where she completed her post doctorate training at the Laboratory Center of Disease Control. In 1988, Dr. Ng became a Research Scientist at the Antimicrobials and Molecular Biology Division. The following year, she became Head of the Research Division at the National Microbiology Laboratory for Sexually Transmitted Diseases in where her division focused on developing diagnostic and typing methods to monitor Neisseria gonorrhoeae . In 1994 she spent 2-1/2 years at the University of Ottawa as an Assistant Professor, setting up the Bacteriology Program within the Medical Microbiology and Immunology Department B Faculty of Medicine. Returning to Health Canada in 1996, Dr. Ng was assigned to the research lab at the National Microbiology Laboratory for Enteric Pathogens. Dr. Ng transferred to Winnipeg in 1998 where she held the title of Chief, Sexually Transmitted Diseases as well as Head, Gonococcal Infections/Syphilis Section at the National Microbiology Laboratory. She also holds the position of an Adjunct Professor with the Department of Medical Microbiology within the Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Manitoba. She is currently the Director of Bacteriology and Enteric Diseases Program and Acting Chief of Enteric Diseases Program at the National Microbiology Laboratory. Since 2003, she has been actively involved in PulseNet Canada and PulseNet International activities. She is also involved in International Surveillance work in partnership with the Pan American Health Organization as well as the World Health Organization. Her international work involved over 22 countries world wide with the objective of monitoring and controlling diarrhoeal diseases.
Dr Norma Binsztein was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She studied Biology at the School of Sciences, University of Buenos Aires. After the completion of her university studies, she specialized in microbiology and joined the Instituto Nacional de Microbiologia "Carlos G Malbran" (at present Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades infecciosas-ANLIS "Carlos G Malbran"), in Buenos Aires as a professional staff since 1972, and then as Chief of the Bacteriology Department from January 1994 to April 2007, by contest. Her focus was always on enteric bacteria and diarrheal diseases, mainly in virulence factors and genetic relationships. The research projects and the direction of 8 national and international research grants were focused on the study of cholera, foodborne pathogens and diarrheal diseases. This led to 75 congress reports, 46 papers published in national and international journals, as well as the writing of one chapter in the "Blue Book of Pediatric Infectology". She has been actively involved in the organization of the National Surveillance System for enteric pathogens through a network of laboratories, and has been the co-coordinator of the Diarrhea, Cholera and Foodborne Pathogens (FBP) Network in Argentina. These roles included the coordination of national (24) and international (9) post-graduate courses on the “Characterization of Enterobacteria (mainly FBP) and V. cholerae” and "Molecular epidemiology in the surveillance of bacterial infections". They also included the development of the respective proceedings manuals distributed to the National Laboratory Network and the International Laboratory Network within the framework of the WHO Global Salmonella Surveillance program (WHO GSS). Norma Binsztein has been actively involved in various international activities; including the co-coordination of the WHO GSS program for South America since 2000 and the PulseNet Latin America network since 2003.
Dr Suleiman Al-Busaidy is an Omani microbiologist, currently holding the Directorship position of the Central Public Health Laboratory in Ministry of Health - Muscat, Oman. As the Director of the Central Public Health Laboratories his responsibilities include the provision of scientific and managerial leadership in developing, promoting and integrating public health laboratory services into practice, towards prevention and control of diseases. Under his leadership the CPHL, has attained the WHO recognition as a Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio, Measles & Rubella, Tuberculosis as well as being the provider for Eastern Mediterriean External Quality Assuarence Scheme in Microbiology. Dr. Suleiman established the Virology Laboratory in Oman.
Dr Susanna Lukinmaa is a microbiologist who completed her Master of Science and PhD (in microbiology) at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Helsinki. Her thesis, entitled “Salmonella enterica, Listeria monocytogenes and Clostridium perfringens: Diversity of human isolates studied by phenotypic and molecular methods”, examined the molecular epidemiology of food-borne pathogens. She worked as a coordinator of PulseNet Europe at the Statens Serum Institute, in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2005-2006 and since then she has been a member of the steering committee of PulseNet Europe in the transient period with no funding and no coordinator. At present, she is working as a senior researcher at the National Health Institute, Department of Bacterial and Inflammatory Diseases, Enteric Bacteria Laboratory in Helsinki, Finland and is also specializing to hospital microbiology at the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa.
Home | Networks | PulseNet | Protocols | Projects | Publications | Events & Links | Contacts
ESR Water Group Web Solutions, Christchurch, New Zealand ©2008
