Director, Center for Food Security and Public Health
Director, Institute for International Cooperation in Animal Biologics

2156 College of Veterinary Medicine
515.294.8459
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Dr. James Roth is the Clarence Hartley Covault Distinguished Professor in the Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Epidemiology in the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa.  He is the Director of the Center for Food Security and Public Health and the Institute for International Cooperation in Animal Biologics. Dr. Roth’s primary area of research expertise is immunity to infectious diseases of food producing animals, emphasizing evaluation of T cell mediated immunity.  He has led the development of a course on Emerging and Exotic Diseases of Animals which is used by students at all of the US Colleges of Veterinary Medicine and has been translated into Spanish for use in Latin America. He has authored or co-authored over 150 publications in refereed journals. Dr. Roth has contributed 33 chapters to monographs, and has edited 12 monographs and one textbook. He has served as the major or co-major professor for 49 MS and PhD students. Dr. Roth received the Distinguished Veterinary Immunologist Award from the American Association of Veterinary Immunologists and the Distinguished Veterinary Microbiologist Award from the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists. He has testified before Congress on biosecurity preparedness and efforts to address bioterrorism and agroterrorism. Dr. Roth currently serves on the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity.  Dr. Roth received his PhD (1981) and MS (1979) degrees in veterinary microbiology from Iowa State University, and his DVM (1975) also from Iowa State University. He is a Diplomate in the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists (ACVM).

Associate Director

515.450.4795
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Dr. Bickett-Weddle received a BS degree in Animal Science from South Dakota State University in 1995 and her DVM from Iowa State University in 1999. She practiced as a veterinarian before joining Land O’ Lakes Farmland Feed as a dairy field nutritionist and technical services manager in 2000. In that position, she provided consultation to dairy producers in South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Iowa until late 2002 when she returned to ISU to work for the CFSPH. She received her MPH from the University of Iowa in December 2003 and her practicum was focused on musculoskeletal disorders in dairy producers. She became a Diplomate in the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine in 2006 and earned a PhD in Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine in 2009 focused on biological risk management practices on dairy operations. From 2004-2021, she was the Associate Director for the Center for Food Security and Public Health.  In that role, Bickett-Weddle managed projects focused on cattle health including the development of a Secure Milk Supply Plan and Secure Beef Supply Plan, FMD training materials, and ISU’s Biological Risk Management program. She managed development of the content for the USDA-APHIS National Veterinary Accreditation Program for over 10 years. Dr. Bickett-Weddle taught in the College of Veterinary Medicine at ISU (biosecurity, dairy production medicine) as well as the College of Public Health at UI (emergency preparedness and disease prevention). She has given presentations throughout the U.S. and Mexico about the Secure Milk Supply Plan, the Secure Beef Supply Plan, agroterrorism awareness, and implementing biological risk management practices on cattle operations. In her new role with Preventalytics, she provides subject matter expertise support to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and various Departments of Agriculture focused on SBS awareness and FMD preparedness.

Veterinary Specialist

1172 College of Veterinary Medicine
970.231.9654
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Dr. Reneé Dewell earned her BS degree in Animal Science from Texas A&M University and her DVM degree from Colorado State University. She completed an internship (beef cattle) at Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center (GPVEC, USDA MARC, Clay Center, NE) and a MS (Clinical Sciences, epidemiology emphasis) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dr. Dewell also obtained a certificate in Beef Cattle Production Medicine through GPVEC. Prior to coming to Iowa State University, Reneé gained experience in private clinical practice as well as in veterinary student instruction in both clinical and didactic settings. She has conducted and participated in multiple applied research projects primarily focused on beef cattle production, performance, welfare and pre-and post-harvest food safety. Dewell has also been employed as a post-doctoral researcher at Colorado State University and as a staff veterinarian at a Colorado custom feeding and research feedyard. Reneé joined the Center for Food Security and Public health as a Veterinary Specialist on a part-time basis in 2009 and then full-time in 2014. In this role, Dewell leads several working groups for the Secure Beef Supply Plan and contributes to projects focused on cattle health and biological risk management.

Veterinary Specialist

2170 College of Veterinary Medicine
515.294.2035
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Dr. Lee received a BS in Animal Science from Michigan State University in 2009, a DVM from Iowa State University in 2014, an MPH from the University of Iowa in 2017. She spent one year in private mixed animal practice in Washington, Kansas, before returning to Iowa. In her current role at the Center for Food Security and Public Health, Dr. Lee uses her background in dairy and beef production medicine to assist in development of cattle projects, including the Secure Milk Supply and Secure Beef Supply, as well as other projects at the Center.

Professor

Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine
306 Coles Hall
1620 Denison Ave.
Manhattan, KS 66506
785.532.4264
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Dr. Michael Sanderson is a Professor of Epidemiology and Beef Production in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University. He received his DVM from Colorado State University in 1988 followed by 5 years in private practice. He received his MS from Washington State University in 1995, Diplomate status in the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine in 2002, and in the Epidemiology specialty in 2004. He has been a faculty member at Kansas State University since 1995. Dr. Sanderson’s research interests are in the epidemiology of disease and decreased production in beef operations, and the application of epidemiology and simulation modeling to facilitate food safety, security, and production decision making. Specifically, his research includes describing livestock movement networks and modeling the disease and economic effects of a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in the U.S. His work on the Secure Beef Supply plan is synergistic with these research efforts. Dr. Sanderson also conducts pre-harvest food-safety research, including experimental and observational research on the epidemiology and ecology of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and other Shiga-Toxin Producing E. coli (STEC) in cattle. He is involved in mathematical modeling of shedding dynamics and transmission of E. coli O157 between cattle and through the environment, and in risk analysis modeling of carcass contamination with STEC. His research also includes modeling biosecurity and management practices for livestock operations including the use of Risk Analysis to identify optimal management programs for BRD, BVDV, and Tritrichomonas. Dr. Sanderson teaches the Intermediate Epidemiology class for graduate students and MPH students as well as an Introduction to Disease Modeling class for graduate students. He mentors numerous graduate students in research.

Research Associate

Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine
310 Coles Hall
1620 Denison Ave.
Manhattan, KS 66506
785.532.4302
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Dr. Christy Hanthorn received both her BS in Animal Science and DVM from Iowa State University in 2006 and 2010, respectively. She was an associate veterinarian in a mixed animal private practice in eastern Iowa for 2 years before returning to Iowa State University to complete a MS degree in Veterinary Preventive Medicine in 2014. She currently works as a Research Associate at Kansas State’s College of Veterinary Medicine in the Epidemiology and Population Health group. Christy’s professional interests are beef cattle herd health and preventive medicine. Her work at Kansas State includes assisting with development of the Secure Beef Supply plan, data collection for livestock network modeling studies, and course management for the Veterinary Epidemiology class taken during the first year of the veterinary students’ curriculum. She also manages the herd health program for her family’s cow-calf farm in southern Iowa.