Ashma was born and raised in Dharan, Eastern region of Nepal. Prior to arriving at UVM, she earned a master’s degree at Tribhuvan University with a focus on Medical Microbiology. Her previous research mainly dealt with Extended Spectrum Beta-lactamase (ESBL) E. coli and Multiple Antibiotic Resistance (MAR) Indexing. After graduating in 2015, she worked as a lecturer in one of the constituent campuses of Tribhuvan University for three years. During that time, she received research grants from Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and University Grants Commission (UGC) Nepal. She has developed a passion for interdisciplinary approaches to address the “One Health” problem of antimicrobial resistance. As a part of her Ph.D. studies under Dr. John Barlow, she will focus on using molecular epidemiological tools and techniques to understand the dynamics of AMR bacteria. Besides study and research, Ashma loves dancing, playing word games and hanging out with her pooch.

Caitlin Jeffrey grew up in Northfield, Vermont, and graduated from Bowdoin College in 2007 with an A.B. in biology. While at Bowdoin, she completed an honors thesis looking at the effect of weather on foraging behavior of two bird species with different feeding strategies. Caitlin went on to attend Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, where she focused on both equine and bovine medicine. After graduating with her D.V.M. in 2013, she practiced veterinary medicine as a large animal ambulatory clinician in New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont. She was excited to transition into a PhD program in the UVM Animal Science Department after hearing about an opportunity to work in Dr. John Barlow’s lab. She will be working on a project exploring the microbial community of the mammary gland and bedded packs on organic dairy farms, and how the microbiome of the udder may affect susceptibility to intramammary infection

Affiliated lab, no bio at this time

Affiliated lab, no bio at this time. 

Chrissy grew up in Canada, splitting her adult life between studying and working with teenagers. She graduated from the Université de Montréal in 2014 with a B.S. in microbiology, and later joined the Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire in 2017 to pursue a master’s on the sequencing and phylogenetics of RNA viruses in animal herds, while also studying the impact of mycotoxins in animal feed. She got her first taste of (and fell in love with) lecturing in 2018, teaching veterinarians about molecular diagnostic and as a guest lecturer in animal nutrition.
Chrissy joined the Zhao Lab as a PhD student in 2020, focusing on how mastitis impact systemic lipid metabolism in dairy cows, and is particularly interested in the link between mastitis, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and bioactive lipids known as eicosanoids. A true science nerd, she is always excited to learn about most disciplines like education, sociology, microbiology, pharmacology, and many more!
On a more personal note, Chrissy enjoys body art, pole dancing, baking brownies, and a yummy chai latté in good company!

Gift was born and raised in Nigeria, West Africa. She had her bachelor’s degree in Animal Science from the University of Benin, and her thesis was on the effect of terrestrial weeds on in-vitro rumen fermentation and methane emissions. She proceeded for her masters at the University of Ibadan, and her research was on the assessment of vegetable wastes as feed supplement for ruminant animals. Her PhD research is on the application of seaweeds in dairy diets to mitigate enteric methane emissions, and she is working with Dr. Sabrina Greenwood. Her non-academic interests are poetry and volunteering.

Originally from Lenoxville, Pennsylvania, Cari earned her B.S. in Biology from the University of Scranton in 2008. Her father’s family operated a medium-size Holstein dairy, and agriculture was a large part of her formative years. She has held several different roles within the pharmaceutical industry, from vaccine manufacturing to quality assurance, and also was the clinical project manager of the BEST-CLI trial, an NIH-funded clinical trial evaluating two different vascular surgery procedures on the outcome of critical limb ischemia. Cari also tied together her love of microbiology and craft beer by briefly working as the lab manager for two different breweries. While completing her Master of Public Health degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Cari began to recognize the importance of OneHealth’s part in agriculture, especially in terms of zoonotic disease prevention. Her chance to return to agriculture came in the winter of 2018, when she joined the William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute in Chazy, NY as a year-long research intern. Cari found her home at Miner, and in the fall of 2020, under the mentorship of Dr. Sarah Morrison, she began her Ph.D. studies at UVM. Her research interests include exploring preventative measures to disease management in dairy calves, such as optimizing management and biosecurity practices, evaluating alternatives to antimicrobials, and examining the relationships between calf housing environments and health. Outside of research, Cari can be found trying to earn a home-chef Michelin star, making ice cream cakes, looking for a new brewery to try, or adventuring somewhere in the mountains with borrowed dogs.

Victoria Taormina was born in New York, raised in New Jersey, and is excited to continue her education in Vermont. She recently graduated from UVM with a B.S. in Dietetics, Nutrition, and Food Science. As an undergraduate, she conducted research with Dr. Jana Kraft, investigating the role of food descriptions in the decision-making process. Drawn to Dr. Kraft’s clinical nutrition research, she will begin her Ph.D. research exploring unique dairy fats and their role in human health and disease prevention, specifically type 2 diabetes. Victoria likes to cook, crochet, and walk around Burlington.

Emily grew up in Dixon, Illinois. She graduated from the University of Missouri in 2020 with a B.S. in Animal Sciences. At Mizzou she conducted undergraduate research with Dr. Amanda Patterson, investigating the role of the immune system on menses-like repair in mice to better understand uterine epithelial repair during the menstrual cycle in humans. After graduating, Emily began a year-long research internship at the Miner Institute, where she researched the effect of dietary supplementation of a commercial product on the health and productivity of Holstein cows during the transition period. She is pursuing a Master's degree in Dr. Jana Kraft's lab. Her research will be focused on enteric methane mitigation and measurement strategies in dairy systems. Outside of research, Emily likes to crochet, draw and paint.

I grew up in New Hampshire, and graduated from UVM in 2022 with a BS in Animal Science and minors in Food Systems and Biology. I am interested in all facets of agriculture, and am excited to be in the Etter lab, to identify and characterize Salmonella enterica and Campylobacter in backyard chickens in Vermont. I enjoy hiking, skiing, running, and biking!

Whitney Hull grew up in Ohio and graduated from The Ohio State University in 2008 with a dual B.S. in Animal Science and Biology. Whitney moved to Vermont shortly after graduation and worked in the dairy industry as a Reproductive Specialist and a Dairy Nutritionist for 13 years. In 2021, Whitney began her position as a Dairy Herd Management Outreach Specialist with UVM Extension, where she works with dairy farmers across Vermont to improve herd management and economic viability. Whitney is currently working on her Master's Degree in Dr. Julie Smith's lab, where she is studying new management techniques to reduce the presence of Johne's disease on dairy farms and improve farm economic viability.

Ekaterina (Katya) Lopez-Bondarchuk is originally from Silver Spring, MD. She completed her bachelor's degree at the University of Guelph in Animal Biology. Like most people in the Animal Biology program, she had her sights set on Vet school. However, she caught the research bug just after her first summer working as a One Health intern at the Nutrition Lab at the National Zoo and Conservation and Biology Institute in Washington, DC. Inspired by her dairy nutrition professor at Guelph, she sought out opportunities to research more on dairy calf and heifer nutrition. Today, she is researching how different sources of colostrum impact neonatal calf health. When Katya is not on campus, she enjoys skiing, biking, and visiting farms across the Northeast.

Dr Johnbosco Osuagwu received his D.V.M from the University of Nigeria Nsukka, during which his ambulatory rotation to farms gave him an unending desire for dairy production and welfare.
In 2020, following a career as a clinician and farm veterinarian, he completed his Master’s degree in Veterinary Epidemiology at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). There, he researched Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) proficiency testing and its implications for disease surveillance and control in various continents.
Currently at UVM for a PhD degree, under the supervision of Dr Julie Smith, Dr Johnbosco will continue along this research line by modelling strategies and incentives to control FMD if found in the US.
Dr Johnbosco hikes, cooks, reads thriller novels and travels when he wants to have fun.

Madeline Beaudry (she/her) was raised on a dairy farm in Walpole, New Hampshire. She graduated with a B.S. in Animal Science from Cornell University in 2020, where she was involved with the dairy science club and the dairy management fellowship. After graduating, Madeline worked in the poultry industry in programs overseeing health monitoring, animal welfare, and biosecurity. Increasing work with biosecurity measures inspired her to pursue her Master’s in Dr. Julie Smith’s lab. The research focuses on dairy farm and industry biosecurity measures in the incidence of a foot and mouth disease outbreak in the United States. In her free time, Madeline enjoys biking, hiking, running, cooking, and adventuring with her dog (Gorgonzola).

Joao Lovatti (he/him) is originally from Brazil where he completed his bachelor’s degree at the Federal University of Viçosa in Animal Science. He has worked with ruminant nutrition during his whole career as an undergrad student and after his degree as a technical assistant in beef cattle systems in Brazil. This experience inspired him to pursue a master’s degree, thus he joined Dr. Costa’s lab in August 2022. During his master’s, Joao hopes to improve his knowledge of ruminant nutrition and dairy cattle production, and he plans to continue expanding his horizons through the pursuit of a Ph.D. His master’s research will involve looking at the effects of organic trace minerals supplementation on calves' response to disease severity, altered permeability of the lower gut, and gene expression associated with immune response in the lower gut of calves. When not working on campus, Joao likes to explore the outdoors and have a good time with friends. Also, he is coffee passionate and always willing to grab a coffee and have a good conversation.

Onoh Chidiebere Nnenna obtained a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. While studying there, she discovered her passion for animal health research and has been motivated to pursue it ever since. Recently, Chidiebere completed a 2-year Erasmus Mundus Joint Master's degree program in Infectious Diseases and One Health, which was hosted by three research-intensive European universities: Universite de Tours in France, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in Spain, and Hannover Medical School in Germany. Additionally, she had the opportunity to complete an internship at the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Minnesota, USA. During this internship, she worked on a project that involved conducting in-vitro infection assays to characterise newly identified natural products with activity against Cryptosporidium parvum and Toxoplasma gondii.
Her Project at the Barlow Lab at UVM will focus on applying bioinformatics approaches, and Next Generation Sequencing to explore non-aureus staphylococci isolates responsible for mastitis in dairy cattle.

Hallie grew up in Qingdao, China, a beautiful coastal city. After she got bachelor’s degree in Food Quality and Safety in China, she came to the University of Vermont to pursue her M.S. in Nutrition and Food Sciences under the mentorship of Dr. Mingruo Guo. During her Master’s, she developed and improved an almond yogurt alternative using polymerized whey protein. She started her Ph.D. research in 2020 and worked on CBD-infused dairy products and their flavor mitigation. The increasing attention and emphasis on functional foods during the COVID-19 pandemic aroused her interest in the foods’ effect on human health. Then she transferred to Dr. Kraft’s lab in 2022. Now, she is working with Dr. Kraft on a project exploring the role of yogurt in preventing Type 2 diabetes. During her free time, Hallie enjoys outdoor activities and traveling.