Todd Applegate, associate professor of animal science

765-496-7769
applegt@purdue.edu

Credentials: Applegate specializes in poultry management and nutrition. He can talk about how poultry industry practices in the United States will help protect it from wide-spread cases of bird flu.

Paul Brennan, executive vice president of the Indiana State Poultry Association, which is located on the Purdue University campus. The association represents Indiana on the USDA’s National Poultry Improvement Plan, which handles surveillance of diseases affecting the poultry industry.

765-494-8517
pbrennan@purdue.edu

Credentials: Brennan can discuss safeguards the association and state producers are taking to prevent bird flu and how an outbreak of bird flu might affect production.

Harm HogenEsch, head veterinary pathobiology

765-494-0596
hogenesch@purdue.edu

Credentials: His research focuses on vaccine development. He is co-investigator with Suresh Mittal on an NIH-funded project to develop a new type of human vaccine against bird flu and an expert on aluminum-containing adjuvants.

Suresh Mittal, professor of veterinary Pathobiology

765-496-2894
mittal@purdue.edu

Credentials: He is developing a new type of human vaccine against bird flu through an NIH grant and in collaboration with Purdue Veterinary Pathobiology Head Harm HogenEsch and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers.

Leon Thacker, director of the Indiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory located on the Purdue campus, and Purdue professor of veterinary Pathobiology

765-494-7460
thackerl@purdue.edu

Credentials: Thacker is charged with tracking animal diseases through tests the laboratory runs on sick and dead animals. These include illnesses to which people are susceptible such as West Nile virus, bird flu, Lyme disease, Eastern equine encephalitis. He works closely with the Indiana Board of Animal Health and the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on plans to stem disease outbreaks.