{"id":1484,"date":"2026-04-13T13:09:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T12:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.apicowplexa.net\/?page_id=1484"},"modified":"2026-05-25T10:52:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T09:52:55","slug":"invited-speakers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.apicowplexa.net\/index.php\/invited-speakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Invited speakers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Opening lecture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Alessandro Broglia <\/strong>(European Food Safety Authority; Parma, Italy)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presentation title: <\/strong>Rethinking One health: what if the biggest threat is not the pathogen?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Alessandro Broglia is a veterinarian and epidemiologist, with focus on risk assessment on animal health. He got a degree from the University of Milan (Italy), PhD in parasitology at Free University of Berlin at the Institute of Parasitology and International Animal Health and postgraduate in Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health from Royal Veterinary College, London. He started his career as parasitologist on wildlife and he worked for several years as project manager and veterinary consultant in the field in international cooperation projects for development and emergency in Algeria, Mauritania, Sudan, Morocco, Indonesia. In 2006 he joined the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment in Berlin (Germany) and since 2009 he has been working at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) dealing with epidemiology and risk assessment on animal and public health, prevention and control of infectious diseases in livestock and wildlife and their interaction, zoonoses, transboundary diseases, biosecurity, and One Health issue. He is an active member of the network of Veterinarian Without Borders, for which he has been the chairman between 2006 and 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Opening keynote, Section 1: Food, water and environment: A One Health approach to Apicomplexa spread<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Pikka Jokelainen <\/strong>(Head of Function, One Health and International Collaborations, Infectious Disease Preparedness, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presentation title<\/strong>: One Health and Apicomplexa: across species, systems and sectors<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Pikka Jokelainen (DVM, MPG, PhD) is Head of Function for One Health and International Collaborations at Statens Serum Institut, Denmark, and adjunct professor in zoonotic parasitology at University of Helsinki, Finland. They are president of the World Federation of Parasitologists and president of the Scandinavian-Baltic Society for Parasitology, coordinator of the TOXOSOURCES project, and hold leading roles in several large One Health and preparedness initiatives, including the Global Pathogen Analysis Platform and OH4Surveillance. Dr. Jokelainen has published over 150 scientific articles, mainly in the areas of One Health, zoonoses, infectious disease preparedness, and science-policy interfaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Keynote, Section 2: Immunology and Vaccination<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Anja Joachim <\/strong>(Institute of Parasitology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presentation title:<\/strong> Porcine coccidiosis: from pigs to culture to vaccine development<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Anja Joachim is Full Professor of parasitology at the university of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria. With almost 30 years of work in veterinary parasitology her focus is on protozoal infections of livestock and companion animals. She has developed novel diagnostic methods and investigated the life cycle, epidemiology and control options for porcine coccidia in depth and currently researches alternatives to chemo-metaphylaxis for the control of animal parasites by vaccination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Keynote, Section 3: Parasite evolution, biodiversity, and population genetics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Simone Cacci\u00f2 <\/strong>(Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Rome, Italy)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presentation title<\/strong>: Evolutionary genomics of the intestinal pathogen Cryptosporidium parvum<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Cacci\u00f2 is Research Director at the Department of Infectious Diseases of the National Institute of Health in Rome and holds a PhD in genetics and molecular biology. His research focuses on the molecular epidemiology and genome evolution of gastrointestinal protozoa, mainly Cryptosporidium <\/em>and Giardia<\/em>. He has authored more than 150 publications on peer-reviewed journals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Keynote, Section 4: Diagnosis, biosafety, and control strategies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Valentina Ferrante <\/strong>(Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of Milan, Italy)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presentation title<\/strong>: Early Detection of Coccidiosis in Broiler Chickens: Sensor-Based Approaches for Monitoring Enteric Dysbiosis<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Valentina Ferrante is Associate Professor at the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of Milan, with over 30 years of experience in animal welfare, organic farming, and sustainable livestock systems. She is a diplomate of the European College of Animal Welfare and Behavioural Medicine (ECAWBM-AWSEL). Her teaching activity is focused on animal welfare, ethology, poultry management, and sustainable farming systems. Her scientific production includes more than 50 indexed publications on animal welfare, biodiversity, precision livestock farming, and native poultry breeds. She is co-inventor of a patent for enteropathy early warning systems and co-founder of the academic spin-off Bloomvet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Keynote, Section 5: Molecular and cellular biology<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Andrew Hemphill <\/strong>(Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology, University of Bern, Switerland)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presentation title<\/strong>: The adaptive potential of apicomplexan parasites.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Prof. Andrew Hemphill is Associate Professor at the Institute of Parasitology, Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern. His research is in the field novel preventive and therapeutic measures against parasitic diseases caused by protozoans and helminths. This includes the search for vaccines and drugs, and the characterization of respective targets, for the treatment and prevention of infections by apicomplexan parasites such as Neospora, Toxoplasma, Besnoitia<\/em> and others. He is also been working on the cestode Echinococcus multilocularis<\/em>, mainly on several aspects of host-parasite interactions, in vitro<\/em> culture techniques and novel treatment options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Keynote, Section 6: Host-parasite interactions, pathogenesis and experimental models<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Gema Alvarez Garcia <\/strong>(Department of Animal Health, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presentation title<\/strong>: Exploring host-pathogen interactions for the identification of biomarkers in apicomplexan cyst-forming parasitic infections in ruminants<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Prof. Gema \u00c1lvarez Garc\u00eda studied Veterinary Medicine at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) (1997) and obtained a PhD \u201dcum laude\u201d in Veterinary Sciences in 2003. Currently, she is Full Professor of the Department of Animal Health (Faculty of Veterinary Medicine), a member of the research group SALUVET since its foundation in 2005 and co-director of the group since 2023. Since her PhD on bovine neosporosis she has participated in multiple projects and served as a PhD supervisor in fields related to reproductive failure in ruminants caused by Neospora<\/em>, Besnoitia<\/em> and Toxoplasma. These projects have enabled the development of diagnostic tests and control tools, as well as the acquisition of knowledge regarding host-pathogen interactions through the development of animal models and employment of omics techniques. She is diplomate at the European College of Veterinary Parasitology (EVPC) and founder of SALUVET-INNOVA SL spin-off company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Keynote, Section 7: Epidemiology, Infection modelling and Economic impact<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Laura Rinaldi <\/strong>(Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production, University of Naples Federico II, Italy)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presentation title<\/strong>: Toxoplasmosis in farm animals: myth or reality?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Laura Rinaldi is Full Professor of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases and Deputy Dean at the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production, University of Naples Federico II, Italy. With over 25 years of experience, her work focuses on parasitic diseases of both veterinary and medical importance within a One Health framework. She currently serves as Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for the Diagnosis of Intestinal Helminths and Protozoa and as President of the Italian Society of Parasitology. Her research is centered on the epidemiology, diagnosis, and control of parasitic infections in animals and humans, contributing to the advancement of integrated approaches to parasite management and public health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Opening lecture Dr Alessandro Broglia (European Food Safety Authority; Parma, Italy) Presentation title: Rethinking One health: what if the biggest threat is not the pathogen? Alessandro Broglia is a veterinarian and epidemiologist, with focus on risk assessment on animal health. He got a degree from the University of Milan (Italy), PhD in parasitology at Free Read more about Invited speakers<\/span>[…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1484","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.apicowplexa.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.apicowplexa.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.apicowplexa.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.apicowplexa.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.apicowplexa.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1484"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"http:\/\/www.apicowplexa.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1551,"href":"http:\/\/www.apicowplexa.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1484\/revisions\/1551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.apicowplexa.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}