FAO in Rome and Reflections on a Unique Experience
We spent the final day of the program at the FAO, just across the street from Circo Massimo. Dr. Katinka de Balogh, Senior Officer in the Veterinary Public Health, coordinated the day’s lectures and was a phenomenal host. The day began with a welcome from the directors of the Nutrition and Consumer Protection Division and Animal Production and Health Division, Dr. Ezzeddine Boutrif and Dr. Samuel Jutzi, respectively. Dr. Boutrif and Dr. Jutzi provided us with an overview of the divisions and the direction of their work. The remainder of the morning was filled with a series of lectures that provided background on how FAO is organized and operates with a focus on food safety including standard setting through Codex Alimentarius, and the role of FAO in capacity building.
At lunch we were able to stretch our legs on the patio of FAO’s rooftop cafeteria and take in a view of Rome that would make any Nikon-toting tourist salivate. The afternoon lectures covered FAO programs specific to AI. Although many of the programs have broader applications they have been primarily funded and therefore targeted for AI. The set of speakers and their projects were fascinating (gushing again I know, but they were). Topics covered included wildbird surveillance for highly pathogenic AI (HPAI), challenges encountered in responding to HPAI, and ecosystem modeling to better predict, prevent and respond to outbreaks. EMPRES, the Emergency Prevention System for Transboundary Animal and Plant Pests and Diseases, is a system designed to provide early warning, detection and reaction to transboundary disease threats. The program works to collect epidemiological data from a variety of sources to map distribution of disease and forecast evolutions of outbreaks to control disease at the source thereby preventing spread. We took a break from the lecture and discussion format and Katinka was kind enough to share the story of her amazing career with us and provide some insight on how to pursue a career as a public health veterinarian at an IGO. In short, get international experience and learn languages, many languages. We ended the day and the program with a visit to the Crisis Management Center, the high-tech room and highly qualified staff that manages outbreak response teams. The CMC is actually a collaboration between the FAO and OIE, and serves as the animal health counterpart to the WHO’s Strategic Health Operations Centre (SHOC room), which we were also able to tour in Geneva.
I cannot give enough praise for this trip. It was a tremendous, unique experience. One of the greatest benefits for the few participating students was networking with other participants who are truly experts in their fields. I enjoyed meeting each of them and know I will be contacting them for advice as begin the job search and start carving a career path. I know Will Hueston has organized similar trips for student participants in the past, but I believe this is the first time a group of public health professionals in government and academia was assembled to participate along side a small group of students. It was a short trip, and the time constraints were challenging for speakers and participants but the week time frame enabled greater participation from professionals and students that had to take time off to participate. I hope the trip will be offered annually and recommend it highly to any veterinary public health student that is interested in intergovernmental policy and transboundary disease issues.
Annora Sheehan
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