5th IDHW - Speakers, Theme Leaders, Contributing Experts

Theme #1: Supply and Demand – Every Dog Counts

Theme Leader/Speaker: Peter Friedrich, President, VDH (German Kennel Club); Member, Standards Commission of the FCI, Member, IPFD Board, Germany

Keynote Speaker/Resource Expert: Jo Gale, BVetMed CertLAS MRCVS, Director of External Comms & Science Advocacy, Global Petcare Corporate Affairs, Mars Petcare, UK

Speaker: Claire Calder, Head of Public Affairs, Dogs Trust, UK

Speaker: Peter Sandøe, Professor, Centre for Companion Animal Welfare, Denmark

Moderator: Rowena Packer, BSc (Hons) PhD PGCert(VetEd) FHEA, Lecturer in Companion Animal Behaviour and Welfare Science, Royal Veterinary College, U. of London, UK

Theme #2: Breeding for Health and Wellbeing

Theme Leader/Speaker: Kirsi Sainio, PhD, Chair of the scientific committee and member of the Board, Finnish Kennel Club; Member of the Board IPFD, Finland

Speaker: Dan O’Neill, Associate Professor in Companion Animal Epidemiology, Royal Veterinary College, U. of London, UK

Speaker: Monique Megens, Chair of the International Collaborative on Extreme Conformations in Dogs, Spain/Netherlands

Speaker: Aimee Llewellyn-Zaidi, IPFD

Moderator: Becky Murphy, BVSc BSc, President of Companion Animal Veterinarians Branch, New Zealand Veterinary Association; Director and Senior Clinical Veterinarian, TCI Vets, New Zealand

Note Taker: Anna Nygård, Health Screening Coordinator, Showlink Oy, Finland

Theme #3: Big Data

Theme Leader/Speaker: Kari Ekenstedt, PhD, DVM, Associate Professor in Anatomy and Genetics, Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine, USA

Speaker: Jonas Donner, Senior Scientist, Canine Genetics at Wisdom Panel, Finland

Speaker: Dan O’Neill, Associate Professor in Companion Animal Epidemiology, Royal Veterinary College, U. of London, UK

Speaker: Joanna Ilska, Genetics Research Manager, The Royal Kennel Club, UK

Moderator: Jerold S. Bell, DVM, Adjunct Professor of Genetics, Department of Clinical Sciences, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine
Tufts University; Chairman, Hereditary Disease Committee, World Small Animal Veterinary Association; Director, OFA - The Canine Health Information Center, USA

Note Taker: Vilma Reunanen, Clinical Teacher in veterinary diagnostic imaging, University of Helsinki, Finland

Theme #4: Does the colour matter? Defining Breed vs Variety

Theme Leader/Speaker: Heidi Parker, Associate Investigator, Comparative Genetics Section of the Cancer Genetics and Comparative Genomics Branch, Human Genome Research Institute of NIH, USA

Speaker: Alison Skipper, Postdoctoral Researcher in Canine Health Research, VetCompass Animal Surveillance, Royal Veterinary College, UK

Speaker: Sofia Malm, PhD, Geneticist, Swedish Kennel Club, Sweden

Speaker: Helena Skarp, Head of Dept. of Breeding and Health, Swedish Kennel Club, Sweden 

Speaker: Paula Horne, Chair, Barbet Finland

Moderator: Ian J Seath, Chair, Dachshund Breed Council, UK

Note Taker: Mirkka Montonen, Breeding Advisor, Kiharakerho ry (Curly Coated Retriever Club of Finland)