Herman Barkema
Professor (Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases)
NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Infectious Diseases
Associate Member
Full Member
DVM, PhD, FCAHS
Contact information
Phone
Location
Courses
I focus on prevention of infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance in dairy cattle and my graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are included in all my research projects, often assisted by summer students. In recognition of the value of an interdisciplinary training environment, I have ensured that all my graduate students are co-supervised by a faculty member with a complimentary expertise, usually a basic scientist.
Research and teaching
Research areas
- Clinical Science
- Epidemiology
- Immunology and Infectious Disease
- Production Animal Health
Research / Scholarly Activities
The over-all goal of my research program is to ensure a safe and economical food supply with a reduced risk of transmission of zoonotic diseases to farm families and the general public. I have two main research interests; the first is to prevent and control infectious diseases on dairy farms, primarily mastitis and Johne’s disease, including both animal and public health perspectives. New prevention and control programs in Canada, The Netherlands and other countries, have been introduced or modified based on results of my research. My second main research interest involves interactions among hosts, microbes and the environment in antimicrobial resistance. My research projects are conducted by graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, often with assistance of summer students. Because I value a multidisciplinary education of these graduate students, all of my graduate students are co-supervised by a faculty member with a complimentary expertise, most often a basic scientist. Knowledge transfer and exchange is a logical and important extension of my research program.
Biography
Dr. Herman Barkema completed his DVM degree at Utrecht Univ., The Netherlands, in 1988. He spent 2½ years as manager of a large dairy and beef herd in Costa Rica, then taught bovine herd health at Utrecht Univ. and worked as an epidemiologist for the Dutch Animal Health Service while completing his PhD. In 2001, Dr. Barkema moved to the Univ. of PEI. He subsequently moved to the Univ. of Calgary, where he founded UCVM’s Dept. of Production Animal Health. He currently is Professor in Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases at UCVM and NSERC Industrial Research in Infectious Diseases of Dairy Cattle, with a joint appointment in the Dept. of Community Health Sciences of the Cumming School of Medicine. He is also a Guest Professor at Ghent Univ. (Belgium) and Foreign Expert at the China Agricultural Univ. in Beijing. Dr. Barkema’s research program focuses on prevention and control of diseases in cattle herds, including antimicrobial resistance. He has published > 300 scientific manuscripts and has lectured all over the world. He leads the UCalgary Biostatistics Centre, the Environment research theme in the Canadian Bovine Mastitis Research Network, the Alberta Johne’s Disease Initiative, the Antimicrobial Resistance – One Health Consortium, and UCalgary’s One Health Emerging Cross-cutting Research Theme.