John Maurer, PHD
John J. Maurer, PhD, is is trained microbial physiologist and geneticist. He received his PhD from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in 1990 studying lipoteichoic acid synthesis in neonatal pathogen, Streptococcus agalactiae. He later did a postdoctoral fellowship with Roy Curtiss III, at Washingtion University, in St. Louis, investigating expression and regulation of LPS in Salmonella. Dr. Maurer is currently professor in the Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences at Virginia Tech. He was formerly faculty in the Poultry Diagnostics and Research Center, and a member of the Center of Food Safety at the University of Georgia. He is a member of American Association of Avian Pathologists and American Society for Microbiology. His research interests include development, validation and implementation of molecular tools for on-farm surveillance of foodborne pathogens, molecular epidemiology and population genetics of veterinary and zoonotic pathogens, and ecology of antibiotic resistance and foodborne pathogens in the food production environment. Dr. Maurer has 75 peer-reviewed publications and 17 book chapters and reviews. He is currently collaborating with Margie D. Lee; faculty in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology and senior author on the seminal publication characterizing the microbiome of the developing chicken intestine. Their collaboration is focused on determining how the intestinal microbiome excludes pathogens like Salmonella from the chicken gut. Their earlier work, in collaboration with Michael McClelland at University of California, Irvine, discovered Salmonella starvation response is key in dominance of poultry-adapted S. Kentucky in the chicken cecum.
Siobhan Bridglalsingh
Dr. Siobhan Bridglalsingh is from the twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She attended the School of Veterinary Medicine at The University of the West Indies in Trinidad and completed her DVM in 2005 after which, she was hired initially as a teaching assistant then later as an assistant lecturer in the department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery. Her interest in veterinary education led her to completion of a Masters in Higher Education Teaching and Learning in 2016. One year later she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for a PhD program at The University of Georgia. After completion of the PhD in 2020, she returned to the School of Veterinary Medicine in Trinidad where she resumed her duties until she returned the University of Georgia to begin a residency in veterinary clinical nutrition in 2021. Dr. Bridglalsingh has presented her PhD research at the American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition Symposium 2020 and as a poster presentation in at the Global Animal Nutrition Summit 2020 for which she was awarded the prize for best poster in the category of new methodology. Her research focus is on advanced glycation end products, pet food processing and effects on companion animal health. After finishing the clinical nutrition residency program, Dr. Bridglalsingh’s future goals include attaining board certification as a veterinary nutritionist to provide clinical service in this area and to continue research into the effects of processing on nutrients and health in animals.
Joe Bartges
Dr. Joe Bartges is from West Virginia and a graduate of Marshall University. After receiving his DVM in 1987 from the University of Georgia, he completed an internship and dual residency in internal medicine and nutrition and a PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1993. He joined the faculty at the University of Georgia and in 1997 joined the faculty at the University of Tennessee where he remained until 2014. At Tennessee, he was Professor of Medicine and Nutrition, held the Acree Endowed Chair of Small Animal Research, and served as department head. He was internist, nutritionist, and academic director at Cornell University Veterinary Specialists in Stamford CT and was an Adjunct Clinical Professor of Medicine at Cornell University. He joined the faculty at The University of Georgia in 2016 and is currently Professor of Medicine, Interventional Radiology, and Nutrition in the Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery. He is board certified in small animal internal medicine and nutrition. He is a past president of the American Society of Veterinary Nephrology and Urology. Dr. Bartges is known for his research and publications in veterinary nephrology and urology and nutrition. He has published over 350 peer reviewed manuscripts, research abstracts, review articles, and book chapters and is the primary editor of Nephrology and Urology of Small Animals with Dr. Dave Polzin. He has spoken at over 250 meetings. He is focused on minimally invasive procedures, on pedagogy, and on clinical research in urinary tract diseases and nutrition.
