UC Davis professor first to get Leopold award

Davis, Calif.-Patricia Conrad, DVM, Ph.D, a professor in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine is the first veterinarian to receive the 2004 Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellowship.

The Aldo Leopold Leadership Program provides scientists with intensive communications and leadership training to enhance their ability to communicate effectively with non-scientific audiences, especially policy makers, the media, business leaders and the public. Twenty fellows are selected annually through a competitive application process.

Training consists of two, one-week session in Connecticut and Washington, D.C. during summer and fall this year. Conrad will attend courses in leadership development, strategy planning and communications skills. She will then visit with policy makers, industry members, scientific societies and non-governmental organizations. Upon completion, Conrad will return to the School of Veterinary Medicine to conduct outreach activities and share her skills with students and colleagues.

Conrad's research emphasizes protozoans that infect wildlife, humans and domestic animals. Her team's most recent research focuses on the role of freshwater runoff in the transmission of Toxoplasma gondii, an organism that causes fatal brain infections in California sea otters.

Conrad also maintains interest in studies of tropical animal disease of livestock and wildlife that she has undertaken in Scotland, Kenya and South Africa. She is an advocate for integrated research approaches that take into consideration wildlife and ecosystem health, as well as human and livestock interactions in developing countries.