CÉCILE AENISHAENSLIN
DIRECTRICE
Cécile Aenishaenslin est professeure à la Faculté de médecine vétérinaire de l'Université de Montréal et chercheuse au Centre de recherche en santé publique et au Groupe de recherche en épidémiologie des zoonoses et santé publique.
Médecin vétérinaire et épidémiologiste, Dre Aenishaenslin est également formée en santé publique et en études internationales. Chercheuse boursière des Fonds de la recherche du Québec en Santé, elle mène des travaux de recherche transdisciplinaire qui visent à mieux comprendre les effets des changements globaux sur les maladies animales et zoonotiques et à développer des interventions, programmes et politiques cohérents avec l'approche "Une seule santé".
CECILE AENISHAENSLIN
DIRECTOR
Cécile Aenishaenslin is a professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Montreal and a researcher at the Public Health Research Center and the Groupe de recherche en épidémiologie des zoonoses et santé publique (GREZOSP).
A veterinarian and epidemiologist, Dr. Aenishaenslin is also trained in public health and international studies. A research scholar of the Fond de la recherche du Québec en Santé (FRQS), she conducts transdisciplinary research aimed at better understanding the effects of global changes on animal and zoonotic diseases and at developing interventions, programs and policies consistent with a "One Health" approach.
JEAN-PHILIPPE ROCHELEAU
CO-DIRECTOR
With a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine (DVM) and a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Montreal, Jean-Philippe Rocheleau began his career as a clinician in companion animal medicine and surgery, then as a professor and coordinator of the Department of Animal Health at the Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe. He is an adjunct professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine since 2019.
His work today focuses on the application of "One Health" principles to various issues at the human-animal-environment interface. He focuses on the application of epidemiological methods, spatial analysis and qualitative research to the integrated analysis of data from different species, including humans.
Catherine Bouchard is a veterinary epidemiologist at the Public Health Agency of Canada and an associate professor at the Université de Montréal. Her research focuses on improving risk models and spatiotemporal modeling of tick-borne diseases, optimizing surveillance, developing/evaluating the effectiveness of interventions, and advancing public health practices in Canada regarding tick-borne diseases.
CO-RESEARCHER
Patrick A. Leigton
CO-RESEARCHER
Patrick Leighton is a full professor of epidemiology and public health in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the Université de Montréal. His research interests include the impact of ecological changes on the epidemiology of zoonotic infectious diseases. He is currently the director of the Canadian Lyme Disease Research Network (CLyDRN).
Juliette is a veterinarian who graduated from the École Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort in 2014. She then specialized in epidemiology by completing the Mastère Spécialisé de Santé Publique offered by the Institut Pasteur and Cnam in Paris, before pursuing a PhD at the University of Calgary, Canada. Her doctoral research focused on biomarkers of physiological stress in muskoxen, bridging traditional Inuit knowledge with Western science.
Following her initial postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Davis in the USA, Juliette started working at the University of Montreal in September 2023. There, she actively participates in the "Nunamit Takunnatut: Eyes on Wildlife/Community-led Wildlife Health Monitoring for a Resilient and Healthy Nunavik" project under the auspices of the Nunavik Research Center. The project's primary objective is to develop a wildlife health monitoring system for Nunavik in partnership with local communities.
In addition to her academic endeavors, Juliette serves as a reservist in the French army, working as a veterinary epidemiologist in the Service de veille et anticipation of the Centre d'épidémiologie et de santé publique des armées (CESPA).
CO-RESEARCHER
PHD'S STUDENTS
Sarah Mediouni
PhD Candidate
Natasha Bowser
PhD Candidate
Manon Boiteux
PhD Candidate
Nikky Millar
PhD candidate
Vìtoria Régia Lima Campêlo
PhD Candidate
MASTER'S STUDENTS
Jessica Hainault
MSc Student
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Sabrina Faubert
MSc student
Benjamin Jacobek
MSc Student
TEAM MEMBERS BIOGRAPHY
Natasha Bowser
DOCTORATE STUDENT | 2019
Natasha graduated in Veterinary Medicine from the Royal Veterinary College, London in 2010. She then worked for eight years in equine and companion animal clinical practice in the UK and Canada.
After becoming interested in zoonoses and antimicrobial resistance, she undertook a part-time master's degree in “One Health”, which she completed in 2018. The subject of her thesis was the use of dogs as sentinels for human infectious diseases.
Natasha joined the PhD program in Veterinary Sciences (epidemiology option) at the University of Montreal in 2020, under the supervision of Cécile Aenishaenslin and Catherine Bouchard. Her current research includes evaluating the adaptation of the Canadian population to Lyme disease using mixed methods. Her research interests include health behavior change and disease prevention within the framework of “One Health”.
Sarah Mediouni
DOCTORATE STUDENT | 2019
Sarah graduated from the National School of Veterinary Medicine of Tunisia in 2017. Having obtained an excellence scholarship for a research master's and PhD abroad, she completed the master's program in public health at the University of Montreal. In this time, she worked on human exposure to rabies (in particular through dog bites) in the Inuit communities of Nunavik (Quebec-Canada).
Sarah is currently a PhD student at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Montreal, under the supervision of Cécile Aenishaenslin and the co-supervision of Hélène Carabin. Her project consists of evaluating the economic and health impacts of the Canadian Integrated Program for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance (CIPARS).
Her research interests are zoonotic diseases, antibiotic resistance and the application of integrated “One Health” approaches in epidemiological surveillance.
Sarah has been a member of the Groupe de recherche sur l’épidémiologie des zoonoses et la santé publique (GREZOSP) since 2018 and is also affiliated with the Centre de recherche en santé publique (CreSP).
Nikky Millar
DOCTORAL STUDENT | 2019
Impacts and acceptability of restricting the use of Category 1 antimicrobials in dairy production
After completing her doctorate in Veterinary Medicine at the Université de Montréal in May 2019, Nikky began a master’s degree in Veterinary Sciences, Epidemiology option at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Université de Montréal. She is particularly interested in antibiotic resistance and the different surveillance systems for antibiotic use at the human-animal-environment interface.
Her master's degree aims to 1) determine the impacts of the implementation of a new regulation aimed at restricting the use of Category I antimicrobials in dairy production on the sale of veterinary drugs in Quebec 2) study the factors associated with the reduction of Category I antimicrobials and 3) explore the main obstacles and facilitators to the implementation of this new regulation. A mixed methods approach is used to explore these elements.
Victoria Campêlo Lima
DOCTORAL STUDENT | 2020
Vitória completed her degree in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Brasília at the end of 2019. During her studies, she had the opportunity to do internships in infectious disease control organizatio as the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture (MAPA). She thus developed an interest in the control and diagnosis of infectious diseases.After graduation, she worked as a veterinarian, involved in the diagnosis of glanders and equine infectious anemia in a veterinary laboratory in Brazil.
In September 2020, she started a PhD in epidemiology at the University of Montreal under the direction of Simon Dufour and the co-direction of Cécile Aenishaenslin and Manon Racicot. Using a mixed approach (qualitative and quantitative), her research project aims to describe the biosecurity status of dairy farms in Canada and to understand the difficulties that dairy producers may face and that prevent them from implementing biosecurity measures on their farms.
Manon Boiteux
DOCTORAL STUDENT | 2024
Manon Boiteux is a student in the individualized doctorate in One Health at the Université de Montréal (UdeM). She holds a master's degree in environmental sciences and worked for several years in the research community as a research advisor for the Innovation Laboratory of the Vice-Rectorate for Research, Discovery, Creation and Innovation at UdeM. In particular, she contributed to the establishment of the One Health Initiative at UdeM and is still involved as a representative of the One Health Student Club. She also supports the development of new training in USS at UdeM (summer school, third-cycle microprogram and doctorate).
In her doctoral project, she is interested in inter- and transdisciplinary and participatory approaches. More specifically, she is working on the evaluation of citizen science as an intervention tool to prevent the risks of tick-borne diseases and participate in the conservation of peri-urban park ecosystems in Quebec. She is completing this doctorate within the One Urban Health Research Chair.
Jessica Hainault
MASTER STUDENT | 2024
Jessica is a bachelor's student in bioecology (class of 2024) and has been working with the Groupe de recherche en épidémiologie des zoonoses et santé publique (GREZOSP) since 2022. She coordinates several field research projects, including the PARCS en santé project. Curious by nature and with a particular interest in the interactions between living organisms, she greatly enjoys working outdoors.
In May 2024, she will begin her Master’s degree in Veterinary Sciences, with a specialization in epidemiology. Her project, under the supervision of Cécile Aenishaenslin and the co-direction of Patrick A. Leighton and Ariane Dumas, will evaluate the effect of relative deer abundance and other ecological variables on the environmental risk of tick-borne diseases in peri-urban nature parks.
Benjamin Jacobek
MASTER STUDENT | 2022
Benjamin is currently a veterinary resident in Wildlife Health Management (2021-2024) at the University of Montreal. He is also a master's student in epidemiology under the supervision of Jean-Philippe Rocheleau and co-direction of Patrick Leighton. His thesis aims optimize environmental interventions to reduce the risk of Lyme disease in Bromont, Quebec. When he's not out in the field capturing and immobilizing wildlife, Ben works on a variety of wildlife health-related research projects, including the land-sea transmission of Toxoplasma gondii in beluga whales in the St. Lawrence Estuary. He is particularly interested in issues related to the human-wildlife interface and the search for "One Health" solutions to these problems.
Benjamin received his veterinary degree (DVM) from Cornell University in 2020 and his Bachelor of Science (BSc.) from the University of British Columbia in 2015.
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Jessica Hainault
MASTER STUDENT | 2024
Jessica is a bachelor's student in bioecology (class of 2024) and has been working with the Groupe de recherche en épidémiologie des zoonoses et santé publique (GREZOSP) since 2022. She coordinates several field research projects, including the PARCS en santé project. Curious by nature and with a particular interest in the interactions between living organisms, she greatly enjoys working outdoors.
In May 2024, she will begin her Master’s degree in Veterinary Sciences, with a specialization in epidemiology. Her project, under the supervision of Cécile Aenishaenslin and the co-direction of Patrick A. Leighton and Ariane Dumas, will evaluate the effect of relative deer abundance and other ecological variables on the environmental risk of tick-borne diseases in peri-urban nature parks.
Elizabeth Dyer
RESEARCH ASSISTANT | 2022
Elizabeth started her professional journey as an animal health technician at a specialized hospital focused on the care of birds and exotic animals, where she dedicated over 20 years of service. Her exposure to a diverse array of animal species ignited her interest in zoonotic diseases, as she encountered a broad spectrum of pathogens transmissible to humans. Subsequently, she pursued a Bachelor's degree in Biology at Concordia University, followed by a Master's degree in Veterinary Sciences with a specialization in public health at the University of Montreal. Concurrently, she continued her career within a veterinary diagnostic laboratory team. As part of her Master's program, she undertook an internship with the Ministère des forêts, de la faune et des parcs, where she contributed to the development of reference tools aimed at providing enhanced guidelines for individuals involved in wildlife rehabilitation efforts.
The "One Health" approach resonates strongly with Elizabeth's beliefs regarding the interdependence of people, animals and the environment. Elizabeth collaborates on several research projects related to the epidemiology of zoonoses.
Raphaëlle Audet-Legault
MASTER STUDENT | 2022
Raphaëlle earned her Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from the University of Montreal in May 2018. Afterward, she completed both a general internship and a specialized internship in neurology at Centre Vétérinaire Rive-Sud. Subsequently, she started her professional journey in companion animal medicine, gaining three years of experience in various fields including emergency care, neurology, and general practice within private veterinary clinics.
Currently, she is pursuing a Master's degree in Veterinary Sciences with a focus on epidemiology at the University of Montreal. Her research involves investigating the eco-epidemiology of anaplasmosis in Quebec, examining the relationships between the bacterium, ticks, and reservoir hosts.
Melanie Dappen
PARCS EN SANTÉ COODITATOR | 2024
A biologist by training, Mélanie worked for nearly 15 years at the GUEPE organization as regional director. She was responsible for educational services, employee training, the development of educational content and all projects carried out in the greater metropolitan area. Her experience led her to interact with a wide variety of clienteles, in many contexts and to collaborate with partners from different sectors (academic, municipal, government, community, philanthropic, etc.). She has also developed numerous training courses, workshops and educational tools, particularly on biodiversity, outdoor education, the interpretation of green spaces and coexistence with wildlife. Mélanie is recognized for her expertise in popularizing and raising public awareness and has solid project management skills. Nature parks are her favorite playground and the Parcs en Santé project represents a superb continuation of her career.
