Dr. Julie Smith received her B.S., D.V.M., and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University. Originally from the NYC suburbs, she headed off to the ag school at Cornell and never looked back. She is married to a Vermont dairyman and has a tractor-loving son.
Dr. Julie has been with UVM since 2002 and has applied her veterinary background to programs in the areas of herd health, calf and heifer management, and agricultural emergency management.
She has conducted trainings for Extension educators, livestock producers, and community members on the risks posed by a range of animal diseases, whether they already exist in the United States, exist outside of the United States, or pose a risk to both animal and human health. In all cases, she emphasizes the importance of awareness and prevention.
As a veterinarian and spouse of a dairy farmer, Dr. Julie is well aware of the animal health and well-being concerns of dairy animals. She has been guiding undergraduate students in thinking critically about animal welfare (in the required course, ASCI 122) since Fall 2014. Her role in coordinating the educational component of Vermont Breakfast on the Farm since 2015 extends these efforts to a wider audience.
Dr. Julie is currently leading a USDA-funded multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional project, which seeks to understand the human dimensions of protecting food animal health, particularly from new, emerging, or exotic pests or diseases. Her previous research efforts studied the interactions among nutrition, growth, and immune system development in young dairy calves and explored the risk of highly contagious disease spread among Vermont dairy farms.
