Associate Professor and Director of Veterinary Public Health at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, Chika C. Okafor, DVM, MS, PhD, DACVPM (Epidemiology), has been named president-elect of the Epidemiology Specialty of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine (ACVPM). The ACVPM certifies veterinarians globally who are dedicated to improving the health of animals, humans and the environment. His election reflects the college’s continued contributions to Veterinary public health, epidemiology and One Health.

Okafor was drawn to epidemiology because of its ability to answer important questions about disease patterns, risk factors and prevention strategies. “As a veterinarian, I became increasingly interested in understanding disease not only at the individual animal level but also at the population level,” Okafor said. He appreciates the field’s interdisciplinary nature and its role in advancing One Health initiatives. “Epidemiology provides the tools needed to generate evidence that informs decision-making and improves animal health, public health and disease prevention.”

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health has awarded a new, five-year $2.4 million R01 grant to Dr. Jiahui Ding, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine’s C.S. Mott Center for Human Growth and Development, to support research that aims to uncover how viral infections during pregnancy reprogram the developing immune system of the fetus, influencing susceptibility to infectious diseases throughout life.