Conference Speakers

Dr. Livia Garbin

Livia Camargo Garbin is a DVM with an Internship in Equine Medicine at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG-Brazil), a master in Animal Science at the same Institution and a PhD in Clinical Sciences at Colorado State University -USA.

Her main focus of research is the use and optimisation of biological therapies (such as platelet-rich plasma, autologous conditioned serum and mesenchymal stem cells) for musculoskeletal injuries.

Chris Oura B Vet Med, MSc, PhD, MRCVS
Professor in Veterinary Virology,
School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences,
University of the West Indies 

Chris is a qualified veterinary surgeon and has considerable experience working with vector-borne viral and protozoal diseases including Bluetongue, African Horse Sickness, African Swine fever, tropical theileriosis and East Coast fever.  Chris has worked in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Uganda, Mexico and the UK.

After completing his PhD on the immunology of African Swine Fever Virus, Chris successfully secured two consecutive Wellcome Trust fellowships, the second of which was based at the University of Makerere, Kampala, Uganda. Following this he returned to the UK where he spent the next 8 years at the world famous Pirbright laboratory. Chris spent two years as head of the division of epidemiology and one year as head of Pirbright laboratory, before returning to a more scientific role in charge of the OIE reference laboratories for Bluetongue, African Horse sickness, African Swine fever, Rinderpest, Peste de Petits Ruminants and Capripox viruses.

Chris took up the post of Professor of Veterinary Virology at the University of the West Indies in early 2012 and is currently running a One Health – based research programme in Trinidad and Tobago. From 2014-2017 Chris led a large 1.5 million Euro EU funded project promoting One Health across the Caribbean region called “One Health One Caribbean One Love. He has recently co-written and co-edited a book entitled ‘Caribbean Resilience and Prosperity through One Health’ which is available to download at www.onehealthcaribbean.org.

Professor Patrick Butaye received his DVM from the University of Ghent in 1994. Immediately thereafter he started as junior researcher in a research on Chlamydia psittaci. In 1996 he obtained a university grant for 4 years to do his PhD, and defended his PhD on antimicrobial resistance in enterococci from animals in 2000.

Following his PhD, he took a permanent position as researcher at the Belgian Veterinary research institute where he lead the unit of General Bacteriology and then an associate professorship at Ghent University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in 2006, which he still occupies. He has been a full professor at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine since 2015. Since 2000, he has been involved in many research grants dealing mainly with antimicrobial resistance, molecular epidemiology of bacteria, and host pathogen interactions. Amongst the bacteria he worked with are Salmonella enterica serotypes, Escherichia coli, different Staphylococcus species, Enterococci.

Dr. Pavez obtained his LMV at the National University of Costa Rica. His Residency was completed at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis.
Since then, he has had faculty appointments in the field of anaesthesia at the veterinary schools of the University of California-Davis and University of Pennsylvania and is now an Associate Professor in the Veterinary Technology Programme at the Biology Department, University of Puerto Rico in Arecibo.
He has been a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia since 2011.

DVM from Ross University, St. Kitts. Masters in Veterinary Science and Resident at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Large Animal Internal Medicine (Equine). Assistant Professor in Clinical Pharmacology at Ross University, St. Kitts. Lectures in Equine Therapeutics, Antimicrobials, GI Tract Medications, Veterinary Pharmaceutical Laws and Pain Management and local anaesthesia.
Previously worked as Clinical Director for Park Equine Hospital (2011-2016).

Dr. Tara Paterson has served as Associate Professor in the Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery since 2012 at St. George’s University, Grenada. She joined SGU as a Veterinary Clinician/Instructor in the Department of Clinical Studies in 2003, and became an Assistant Professor in
the Small Animal Medicine and Surgery Department in 2008.

Dr. Paterson is the faculty advisor for student organizations including: the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), the student affiliate
chapter of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA), Hill’s College Feeding Program, and Zoetis & Merial college programs. She also developed and oversees the SVM Vector Borne Disease program for students, which provides access to preventive wellness medication for their pets and learning opportunities in the field of small animal preventive medicine and vector-borne disease.

She is currently the President of the SVM Alumni Association after serving as Vice president from 2010 to 2016.
Dr. Paterson’s research interests include veterinary dermatology, small animal infectious diseases, and clinical parasitology – especially canine demodicosis and canine heartworm disease – with an emphasis on evaluation of therapeutic efficacy.
Dr. Paterson earned her DVM in 2003 and her MSc in Parasitology in 2011 from St. George’s University. She also holds a BScH in biology/psychology from Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada.

Dr. Thomasson obtained his DVM from Auburn University, Alabama and is registered with the Florida Board of Veterinary Medicine.
He holds the position of Adjunct Professor at St. Matthew’s University, School of Veterinary Medicine, where he teaches Veterinary Parasitology. He is also a Clinical Assistant Professor and Relief Veterinarian at the University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine.
Boehringher Ingelheim Animal Health has used his professional expertise through education in the areas of parasitology, immunology, vaccinology, pain management and business management. He visits over 300 clinics per year and delivers over 100 presentations per year to clinics and VMAs.

DVM from National University of Colombia, Masters in physiology from National University of Colombia.
Residency in nephrourology at Minnesota Veterinary College and Hemodialysis at Academy UC Davis. Member of the American Society of Veterinary Nephrology and Urology. Director of Nefrovet Colombia.
National and International speaker focused on urinary tract diseases. Dr Mayorga is an IDEXX consultant since 2018.

Dr. López Quintana graduated in June 1996 at the Republic Uruguayan University and complied with the requirements of the AVMA ECFVG in 2012

She practices small animal medicine and surgery at the family clinic where she has grown as a person and as a vet ever since she was able to walk.

Adriana has a special interest in Emergency and Critical Care Medicine and Soft Tissue Surgery.

Since her graduation she has performed several externships in the Animal Emergency Center in Milwaukee, Minnesota State University, North Carolina State University, Oregon State University and Pennsylvania State University

She is cofounder, Past-President and Executive Director of the Latin American Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society, LAVECCS.

She is the Honor Secretary of the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) Foundation to improve animal care and to help in the advancement of veterinary science and education around the World and is an active member of the WSAVA Global Nutrition committee.

She is now involved in the Sepsis project a LAVECCS project that is soon to become a Global Initiative

Adriana loves to teach. She is one of the instructors of the ABC Trauma Course that teaches veterinarians safe, reliable methods for assessing and initially managing emergency patients around Latin America and she has lectured about emergency and critical care medicine in veterinary meetings around the world.

Adriana is mother of Martin and Nicolas, two wonderful men and 6 dogs that enjoy going out running through the beach during her training as an amateur long distances adventure racer.

Dr. Tisha A. M. Harper, DVM, MS, DipACVS-SA, DACVSMR, CCRP received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the School of Veterinary
Medicine, University of the West Indies, Trinidad West Indies in 1995. She completed her surgical residency training and obtained her Master’s degree in Veterinary Clinical Medicine at the Virginia- Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine in 2003. Dr. Harper achieved Diplomate status in the
American College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2005.

She is a Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner and recently attained Diplomate status in the American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation in 2019.
Dr. Harper has worked in both small animal private practice and academia and currently heads the small animal orthopedic and rehabilitation services at the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois, Urbana Illinois.
Her research interests include treatments/modalities to improve the quality of life for pets with chronic osteoarthritis, peri- and post-operative analgesia and fracture

Dr. Thireshni Chetty is an Instructor in the Department of Large Animal Medicine and Surgery within the School of Veterinary Medicine at St Georges University. Her primary research focuses on animal health that affects national/international disease control and biosecurity. She also has a special interest in infectious diseases and inflammatory diseases that affect the GIT motility of horses.

Prior to her position at St. George’s University, Dr. Chetty began her career in the South African National Defence Force. Broadening her scope of practice, she has also invested much of her time to community engagement in rural South Africa, where she assisted communities to develop livestock and food security gardens that allow these communities immediate access to a continuous supply of safe food. Dr. Chetty has worked extensively
in academia, private practice and veterinary vaccine development and diagnostic research.

Dr. Chetty received her Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery from the Medical University of South Africa in 2000.

Dr. Jonathan White is a Lecturer in Equine Surgery at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus. He has keen interest in all aspects of Equine Lameness and Surgery. He also has keen interest in the Thoroughbred industry and specifically the management of orthopaedic and airway conditions affecting performance.

Following graduating with commendation from the University of Glasgow he completed an equine internship in Newbury, England followed by a residency in equine surgery at the University of Glasgow. During his residency he completed a Masters in Veterinary Medicine evaluating the precision and accuracy of software designed to make objective measurements of conformation in the horse.