Meet the Team

Principal Investigator

Suzanne Millman, PhD

Professor

Professor Suzanne Millman holds joint appointments in the Veterinary Diagnostic & Production Animal Medicine and Biomedical Sciences departments at Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine. She is an applied ethologist, whose research interests include understanding behavioral responses of animals to states of pain and illness, refining techniques for on-farm animal welfare assessment and identifying practical interventions to enhance animal welfare. Professor Millman coordinates animal welfare instruction within the veterinary professional curriculum and coaches ISU’s animal welfare judging team. Dr. Millman provides professional outreach services to the community in animal behavior and animal welfare, including the World Animal Health Organization (OIE), HyLine International, United Egg Producers, Iowa Pork Producers Association and Iowa Veterinary Medical Association.

Co-Principal Investigator

Dr. Gerard Cramer, DVM, DVSc

Associate Professor

Dr. Gerard Cramer has spent his whole life finding ways to work with dairy cows. Prior to joining the University of Minnesota, Gerard spent time running a dairy farm, owning a foot health specific veterinary practice and getting both a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Doctor of Veterinary Science degree from the University of Guelph. Joining the faculty at the University of Minnesota in 2013, Gerard splits his time between educating veterinary and graduate students and doing foot health related research. Current research projects include evaluating hoof trimming methods, the relationship between ketosis and antimicrobial resistance in hoof trimmers.

Katy Proudfoot, PhD

Director of SJDAWC
Associate Professor

Katy Proudfoot is an Associate Professor and Director of the Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre at the Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island. Her professional goal is to improve the lives of animals through teaching, research, and outreach. She completed her MSc and PhD at the University of British Columbia’s Animal Welfare Program where her research focused on maternal behavior of dairy cattle and maternity pen design. In her current role, she teaches animal behavior and welfare to veterinary students and has developed a diverse research program in animal welfare. Her research aims to understand natural behaviour in domesticated animals, investigate novel measurements of stress, and describe differing viewpoints on controversial animal welfare topics.

More information about the Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre can be found here.

Collaborators

Anna Johnson, PhD

Professor

Dr. Anna K. Johnson is a Professor Animal Behavior and Welfare in the Department of Animal Science at Iowa State University (ISU; https://www.ans.iastate.edu/people/anna-johnson). Dr. Johnson’s appointment consists of 45% research, 20% teaching, 25% extension and 10% service.

Johnson earned her doctorate degree in animal welfare from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, her bachelor’s degree in animal science from Reading University and a master’s degree in applied animal behavior and animal welfare from University of Edinburgh.

Dr. Johnson is the Instructor of Record for one undergraduate (AnS 336 Domestic Animal Behavior & Well-Being) and one Graduate level class (AnS 537A: Animal behavior). She is in great demand as a guest lecturer in both the Agricultural and Veterinary Colleges. Johnson serves on the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Honors Committee and on the University Professional Development Committee.

Johnson’s research interests include livestock health, pain and euthanization, caretaker-pig interactions, enrichment and sow productive lifetime. To date, Johnson has been awarded 88 grants and gifts totaling $13,143,309 as either the PI or CO-PI. To date, Johnson has published 114 papers in leading journals, 124 abstracts, seven book chapters and has one patent. Currently she has two master’s students, a post-doctoral associate and two technicians. Johnson has been major or co-major professor for 10 Master and 3 PhD students, is serving on 11 graduate committees and has served on 33 graduate committees.

Johnson serves as a critical resource for livestock industries’ by creating and delivering educational livestock welfare material. Johnson serves on numerous state, national and international committees (n = 18). Dr. Johnson is active in the International Society for Applied Ethology (ISAE) and is a reviewer for international journals in the field of livestock behavior and welfare. To date, Johnson has published 184 peer-review extension articles and 94 non-peer review extension articles. She has contributed to 176 conference proceedings and invited talks and has held 31 PQA Plus Advisor training sessions (n = 1,500 persons) in her capacity as a state trainer.

Prior to joining ISU, Dr. Johnson was the first Director of Animal Welfare for the National Pork Board. Johnson developed and implemented Checkoff-funded swine welfare and welfare-related research within the Science & Technology Department. Johnson was instrumental in the formulation and launch of the Swine Welfare Assurance Program (SWAP).

Monique Pairis-Garcia, DVM, PhD, DACAW

Associate Professor

Dr. Monique Pairis-Garcia is an Associate Professor and Veterinarian in Global Production Animal Welfare at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine with a 50% research, 30% teaching and 20% extension appointment. Dr. Pairis-Garcia earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy degree from Iowa State University in Ames, IA and her bachelor’s degree in biology from Grinnell College. She is board certified in the American College of Animal Welfare and serves on the Pig Welfare Committee for the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) and National Pork Board. Dr. Pairis-Garcia’s research interests include 1) pain management in livestock animals utilizing pharmacological interventions to minimize pain 2) Development and refinement of educational material to ensure timely and appropriate euthanasia on farm and 3) Development and implementation of audit and assessment programs to ensure positive animal welfare and handling on farm. Dr. Pairis-Garcia also serves as an auditor for Certified Humane, a national non-profit organization created to improve the lives of farm animals by conducting inspections on dairy, poultry, swine and slaughter facilities. In addition, Dr. Pairis-Garcia is active in the AVMA, AASV and currently writes a column for the magazine Pig Progress with a focus on swine welfare and behavior.

Jared Danielson, MS, PhD

Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs
Professor

Jared Danielson is the Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs at the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine (ISUCVM), and is a Professor in the Department of Veterinary Pathology. He received a Bachelor’s degree in English from Brigham Young University, a Master’s degree in Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation from Syracuse University, and a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from Virginia Tech. Jared has twenty-one years of experience designing educational interventions and assessments in Veterinary Medical Education, emphasizing practical research-based solutions to learning and assessment problems in higher education. Jared has served in a variety of leadership roles nationally and internationally, including as chair of the Academic Affairs Council of the AAVMC. He is currently a member of the AAVMC’s Council on Outcomes-based Veterinary Education (COVE), and is co-chair of the CBVE Analyze Workgroup. Jared conducts research in the areas of veterinary medical education and assessment, and has published widely and presented in this area to hundreds of audiences nationally and internationally. He reviews for numerous scholarly journals, and is an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Veterinary Science. As PI or co-PI Jared has directed or co-directed 31 funded research projects.

Hans Coetzee, BVSc, Cert CHP, PhD, DACVCP, DACAW, DiplotECAWBM

Department Head, Professor, and Interim Director of Nanotechnology Innovation Center of Kansas State (NICKS) and Institute of Computational Comparative Medicine (ICCM)

Dr. Hans Coetzee is a Professor and Head of the Department of Anatomy and Physiology at Kansas State University. He earned his Bachelor of Veterinary Science degree from the University of Pretoria, South Africa in 1996. After graduation he worked for four years in mixed animal practice in Northern Ireland followed by 2 years in pharmaceutical research and development at Norbrook Laboratories Ltd. He earned a specialist Certificate in Cattle Health and Production from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (London) in 2000 and a doctorate in Veterinary Microbiology from Iowa State University in 2005. He holds dual board certification in the American College of Veterinary Clinical Pharmacology and American College of Animal Welfare and is a European Specialist in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law. His professional interests include developing pain assessment tools and identifying practical methods to provide pain relief in livestock. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers and received over $20 million in research funding. In his free time, he enjoys fly fishing and spending time with his wife and his twin daughters.

Abbie Viscardi, PhD

Research Assistant Professor

Dr. Abbie Viscardi’s research program is focused on studying animal behavior and welfare, with specific emphasis on assessing and managing pain in livestock species. Her group aims to better understand how animals express and communicate pain, how we can effectively alleviate pain on-farm and methods to refine common husbandry procedures in food animals (such as surgical castration, tail docking and dehorning). She is most interested in using non-invasive techniques to assess pain, such as behavior and facial grimace analysis. This involves studying changes to specific facial features of animals, including cheek tightening, orbital tightening and ear position, in response to a painful event.
Dr. Viscardi encourages motivated undergraduate, veterinary and graduate students who are interested in animal behavior and welfare to contact her for available positions in her lab.