2018 PSA Awards

Annie Donoghue is the research leader for the Poultry Production and Product Safety Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, and a research professor within the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science at the University of Arkansas. She received her degrees in zoology (BS) from San Diego State University, animal science (MS) from Texas A&M University, and physiology (PhD) from the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution, she joined ARS as a research scientist. Her work in reproduction and food safety issues has had a tremendous impact on the turkey industry, and her research continues to influence industry standards today. Donoghue's research over the past 18 years has centered on developing alternatives to antibiotics for reducing foodborne pathogens and diseases in poultry. She established and maintains an organically certified poultry research farm, one of the few in the US, and has published more than 240 peer-reviewed manuscripts, patents, invited proceedings or book chapters. She has received over 40 invitations to present lectures or seminars at national/international symposia, conferences, workshops, and at universities. Her service to PSA includes appointments on the board of directors and numerous committees, associate editorship of Poultry Science and The Journal of Applied Poultry Research, and more. She has a special interest in working with military veterans interested in agriculture, and has received numerous awards including the PSA Helene Cecil Leadership Award and the USDA Unsung Hero Award for her work with veterans.

Joseph B. Hess is a native of Pennsylvania, and grew up in Lancaster County's farming country. He was introduced to the commercial poultry industry at an early age through Bob Woodward, broiler manager for the Pennfield Corporation, who was a family friend. Hess completed a BS in Poultry Science from The Pennsylvania State University (with significant mentoring by Owen Keene) and worked for a time as a flock advisor for Wenger's Feeds in Rheems, PA before starting a graduate program at the University of Georgia. Hess completed MS and PhD degrees from the University of Georgia in Poultry Science under the direction of Walter Britton with a specialization in nutrition. His research focus at Georgia explored mineral nutrition of commercial laying hens and egg shell quality. After completing his graduate program, Hess worked as a Technical Service Nutritionist for Central Soya in Decatur Indiana (under the direction of Mike Hellwig) for a number of years before taking an extension poultry scientist position at Auburn University. Hess is currently a professor and extension specialist with Auburn University in Auburn, AL. At Auburn, Hess has a primary extension appointment which directs the bulk of his efforts toward working with the poultry industry in technology transfer.

Mike Kidd has BS and MS degrees from the University of Arkansas in poultry science. His PhD is from North Carolina State University, with a major concentration in nutrition and a minor in immunology. After receiving his PhD in 1994, Kidd became research manager and then director at Nutri-Quest, Inc., in St. Louis, Missouri. Kidd joined the Mississippi State University faculty in 1999 and headed the poultry science department there from 2007 to 2010. He joined the University of Arkansas in January 2010 to head the poultry science department and direct the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science. He has designed 12 university courses, and currently teaches courses in management and production. He is recognized as an authority on amino acids in poultry nutrition and has published over 400 articles and mentored 43 graduate students in the area of poultry nutrition and health. He has been an invited speaker at over 100 international venues in over 40 countries. He served as president of the Poultry Science Association from July 2012 to July 2013. In 2014, he was recognized as The Poultry Federation Industry Leader of the Year.

Michael O. Smith, a native of Jamaica, received his BS, MS, and PhD degrees from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. Upon graduating from JSA he was employed as an agricultural extension officer with the Jamaican Ministry of Agriculture and as an agricultural science teacher with the Jamaican Ministry of Education. After completing his doctoral degree in 1986, he continued his relationship with Oklahoma State University as a Post-doctoral research associate. In 1989, he took a research and teaching position at the University of Tennessee as an assistant professor. He rose to the rank of professor in 2003 and also served for two years as interim assistant dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at the university. He has been the undergraduate advisor to 60-80 students annually as well as faculty advisor to the UT Poultry Science Club. Smith has published more than 100 scientific articles, including 42 papers in referred journals, 45 abstracts from national and international presentations, 20 technical articles, and 11 proceedings. He has also given 16 invited presentations. Smith has been member of PSA since 1982, serving in many capacities and culminating in being elected President in 2013. He was a member of the PSA board of directors from 2002 to 2005 and served as session chair for both the nutrition section and the environment and management section on numerous occasions. In addition, he served on the editorial/review board of The Journal of Applied Poultry Research and as an ad hoc reviewer for Poultry Science.

Anna Wolc
Iowa State University

Anna Wolc is an adjunct assistant professor in animal breeding at Iowa State University and a genomics geneticist at Hy-Line International. In the 12 years since receiving her PhD, Wolc has made substantial contributions to the field of animal breeding and genetics and the livestock breeding industries. She has co-authored 83 peer-reviewed papers and has given 34 talks at national and international symposia. Her research has been recognized and quoted by several research groups across the world and impacted the routine genetic improvement programs of major global breeding companies in both layers and broilers. She has been invited to judge the work of others as a reviewer by more than 10 high-impact scientific journals and is a member of editorial board of The Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics. Wolc has been the recipient of several awards, including a scholarship from the Foundation for Polish Science and multiple travel grants.

Michael R. Bedford
AB Vista Feed Ingredients

Mike Bedford earned his BSc in animal production at The University of Nottingham Faculty of Agricultural Science in 1981. In early 1982, he travelled to Canada to undertake an MSc in poultry nutrition at the University of Guelph. Three years later he started a PhD in poultry nutrition at the U of G, completing it in 1988. A post-doctoral fellowship at MacDonald College of McGill University in Montreal followed and was completed in 1989, at which point Bedford moved from Quebec to Saskatchewan. There he undertook a second post-doctoral fellowship, completed in 1991, at which point the company that had sponsored the research, Finnfeeds International Ltd., offered Bedford a position as a research manager in the UK. In 1995 he was made the research director, as which he commissioned many hundreds of applications trials worldwide. In 2001 he joined Zymetrics, a start-up company under the ownership of Syngenta AG, as director of feed applications research. In April 2007 he joined AB Vista, a division of AB AGRI, as research director, and continues to hold this position today, overseeing over 90 research projects a year. Bedford has authored over 160 refereed publications and 300 publications overall, as well as nine book chapters, three books edited, and nine patents. Bedford is a board member of the Poultry Science Association and an adjunct professor at the University of New England, Australia. He reviews articles for seven journals and has contact with more than 100 academics and commercial nutritionists worldwide.

Peter Hunton
World's Poultry Science Association

Peter Hunton obtained a BS from Newcastle University in 1958, and was a member of the first group of students to enroll in the newly introduced MSc program in poultry science at Wye College, University of London. This involved one year of taught courses and one year undertaking a research project. He was subsequently appointed to the Faculty at Wye, where he taught poultry genetics and poultry management until emigrating to Canada in 1966. He joined Shaver Poultry Breeding Farms in Galt (now a part of Cambridge), Ontario as research coordinator, a post he held until 1974. At this point he was appointed senior research geneticist for Ross Poultry in Newbridge, Scotland. He rejoined Shaver as director of research in 1977. In 1980, he moved to the Ontario Egg Producers Marketing Board (now Egg Farmers of Ontario) as poultry specialist. In this position he was responsible for technical support to 400 egg producers, and for advising the board on its research support program. Hunton was editor of Shaver Focus, later ISA Focus, from its inception in 1967 until 2014, with a break while employed by Ross Poultry. He published widely in Poultry International and World Poultry, and edited the research page in the latter magazine for ten years. He also authored numerous review articles and book chapters. Hunton joined the Poultry Science Association in 1967 and remained an active member until his retirement in 2014.

William A. Dozier III
Auburn University

William A. Dozier III currently serves as a professor at Auburn University in the department of poultry science. He received a BS in animal and dairy science from Auburn University, an MS in animal science from the University of Kentucky, and a PhD in poultry science from Auburn University. He has been internationally recognized for his research determining dietary amino acid requirements of broilers. During his career, Dozier's publications include 77 senior-authored and 51 co-authored peer-reviewed manuscripts. He has also published 265 other written materials in the form of abstracts, book chapters, industry proceedings, popular press articles, and newsletters. Dozier has given 188 invited presentations at international, national, regional, and state levels with lectures being presented in 23 countries. He has received the Hy-Line International Research Award, the AFIA Poultry Nutrition Research Award, and the National Chicken Council Broiler Research Award from the Poultry Science Association. He is a committee member to revise the Nutrient Requirements of Poultry for the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. Dozier served as co-chair of the nutrition section of the 2005 and 2012 Poultry Science Association Annual Meetings and currently is an associate editor for both Journal of Applied Poultry Research and Poultry Science.

Daniel Clark
Ohio State University

Daniel L. Clark is an assistant research professor in the department of animal sciences at the Ohio State University. Clark received his BS, MS and PhD in the department of animal sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with guidance from his advisors Drs. Tom Carr and Anna Dilger. At the University of Illinois, Clark primarily focused on the effects of a swine polymorphism in the Insulin-like Growth Factor 2 gene and the downstream effects on other gene pathways which regulate muscle growth and meat quality. In 2014, Clark moved to the Ohio State University to join Dr. Sandy Velleman's laboratory as a postdoctoral researcher. Clark's postdoctorate research predominately centered on further characterizing the histopathological and molecular features of the Wooden Breast myopathy and identifying the effects of temperature on satellite cell function. In 2016, Clark joined OSU faculty in the department of animal science and is building a collaborative research program with an aim to understand the cellular signaling networks governing skeletal muscle growth and meat quality of livestock and poultry species. Among his research interests in other livestock species, Clark also continues to work with his mentor Sandy Velleman to address meat quality challenges that are present in the poultry industry and identify management, nutrition, or genetic strategies to improve muscle structure without sacrificing yield.

Greg F. Mathis
Southern Poultry Research, Inc.

Greg Mathis is from Gainesville, GA, often recognized as the Poultry Capitol of the World. He graduated with a BS from North Georgia College. He then worked for the United States Department of Agriculture. He later enrolled at the University of Georgia and earned his MS and PhD degrees in the poultry science department. His doctoral work centered on control of coccidiosis, specializing in epidemiology, anticoccidial drugs, and genetics. After receiving his PhD he started Southern Poultry Research, Inc., a private contract poultry research company. Southern Poultry Research, Inc. has now been in business over 30 years serving the pharmaceutical and poultry industries working on nutritional, coccidiosis vaccination, Necrotic Enteritis, Salmonella, and replacements for antibiotic growth promoters. During that time he has written numerous manuscripts and trade articles. He has extensively made scientific presentations (300+ as author or co-author), lectures, and taught numerous poultry pathology courses both nationally and internationally. He was awarded the American Poultry Historical Society Award. He is also an international judge for retriever dog trials.

Iksoon Kang
California Polytechnic State University 

Ike Kang is an associate professor in the department of animal science at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. He received his BS from Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea, his MS from California State University at Fresno, and his PhD from Texas A&M University. Following graduation, Kang held a postdoctoral fellow position at North Carolina State University and joined Kraft/Oscar Mayer Foods in 2000. His research focused on turkey hot-boning and cold-batter mincing to improve processing efficiency and product quality. His poultry research started at Texas A&M University in 1990 with the comparison of electrical stunning and gas stunning on poultry carcass quality and animal welfare. As a postdoc at North Carolina State University, Kang investigated protein washing, isolation, and acervation technologies that were applied to heme/fat reduction and structural modification with mechanically deboned turkey meat at Kraft/Oscar Mayer Foods. Kang teaches courses in meat science, processed meat products, sausage enterprise, and HACCP for meat and poultry operations. He has been a member of PSA since 1992 and served as an associate editor since 2013. Kang is the author/coauthor of 36 peer-reviewed articles, four book chapters, and four patents, with 40 conference presentations and 29 invited national and international presentations. His research has been recognized with numerous awards at Oscar Mayer, including the Above and Beyond the Call of Duty Award in 2007, the Spark Award in 2002, 2003, and 2006, and the Be My Guest Award in 2003.

David D. Frame
Utah State University

David D. Frame is a 1980 graduate of Utah State University with a BS in animal science. He subsequently received his DVM degree from Oregon State/Washington State Universities in 1984, after which he completed an avian medicine/pathology residency with the University of California, Davis. He is board certified in the American College of Poultry Veterinarians. Frame was employed as chief veterinarian for Moroni Feed Company, an integrated Utah turkey cooperative, for 12 years before joining the faculty of the USU animal, dairy, and veterinary sciences department in 1998. He currently serves as the USU extension poultry specialist and as poultry diagnostician for the Utah Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. Frame has been extensively involved in avian influenza field work in commercial turkeys and was requested to serve as an advisor during a low path H5 avian influenza incident in a multi-species game bird operation in Idaho. Frame has served on national boards, including the American Association of Avian Pathologists and the General Conference Committee of the National Poultry Improvement Plan. Additionally, he served two terms as section editor for health and diseases for The Journal of Applied Poultry Research, and also served on the examinations committee of the American College of Poultry Veterinarians. Frame has authored and co-authored scientific articles and numerous extension publications. Besides his involvement with the commercial poultry industries, Frame's extension interests include game bird health and community education in responsible chicken ownership.

Tina M. Widowski

Tina Widowski is a professor of animal biosciences and director of the Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare at the University of Guelph, Ontario Canada. She holds BS, MS and PhD degrees from the University of Illinois-Urbana. As an animal welfare scientist, Widowski has spent over 25 years investigating how housing, transport, and management practices for livestock and poultry affect their welfare. She has served on a number of scientific advisory committees including the scientific committees for Canada's National Farm Animal Care Council Code of Practice for Pigs and for Turkeys, Broilers, and Breeders. She chaired the scientific committee for Canada's National Farm Animal Care Council Code of Practice for Laying Hens and was a member of the Layer Code Development Committee, which was tasked with setting standards for the housing and care of laying hens in Canada. She currently serves on the United Egg Producers Scientists Committee on Animal Welfare. In 2011, Widowski was appointed the Egg Farmers of Canada Research Chair in Poultry Welfare. She currently leads a large research group focusing on housing and management factors that affect the behavior, health, and welfare of growing pullets and laying hens.

Kelly G.S. Wamsley
Mississippi State University

Kelley Wamsley hails from southern West Virginia and received her academic training under the direction of Dr. Joe Moritz at West Virginia University. As an undergraduate, Wamsley got involved as a researcher and teaching assistant in Moritz's lab, where she developed a passion for discovery, research, and helping fellow students. As a PhD student at WVU, Wamsley pursued formal training in teaching, earning a certificate in teaching, while graduating with her PhD in 2012. In September of 2012, Wamsley joined the poultry science department faculty at Mississippi State University as an assistant professor of poultry nutrition. Wamsley has given 16 invited presentations, published 20 refereed journal articles, and 73 abstracts, as well as graduated one PhD and five MS students. She currently mentors two PhD students, one MS student and nine undergraduate students, as well as co-advises the poultry science club. Many of these undergraduate students now have active roles in the poultry industry or have become poultry graduate students. Wamsley also teaches an undergraduate seminar in feed manufacture and poultry evaluation, where she uses nontraditional teaching methods to challenge and encourage critical thinking to prepare students for real-world problems and careers. She feels fortunate to have the opportunity to educate the future leaders of our poultry industry.

Rebecca Wysocky
North Carolina State University

As an undergraduate in the North Carolina State Prestage Department of Poultry Science, Rebecca Wysocky worked for Dr. Jim Petitte in the physiology and biotechnology lab. During this time, she managed and reproduced the transgenic and pedigree flocks at the research unit. In the lab, she was responsible for embryonic manipulations and surrogate eggshell cultures. Following graduation, she managed a broiler hatchery for Perdue Farms. During this time, she realized her true passion was for research and was rehired as a research specialist in the department. During her time at NC State, she has been involved in multiple layer studies involving in vivo embryo injections, transgenic chickens, ovarian cancer biomarker discovery, and managed multiple feed additive studies in cage layers under the directions of Dr. Jim Petitte and Dr. Ken Anderson. In recent years, Wysocky has served as a North Carolina 4-H Programs Coordinator primarily involving embryology. She is also listed as the embryology content specialist on a USDA NIFA funded CYFAR grant to promote STEM learning in four counties across North and South Carolina. Wysocky has also been an instructor for the NC State Hatchery Workshop formerly conducted under the direction of Dr. Mike Wineland. She currently serves on several departmental committees and is the social media coordinator for the department.

Greg F. Mathis
Southern Poultry Research Inc.

Greg Mathis is from Gainesville, GA, often recognized as the Poultry Capitol of the World. He graduated with a BS from North Georgia College. He then worked for the United States Department of Agriculture. He later enrolled at the University of Georgia and earned his MS and PhD degrees in the poultry science department. His doctoral work centered on control of coccidiosis, specializing in epidemiology, anticoccidial drugs, and genetics. After receiving his PhD he started Southern Poultry Research, Inc., a private contract poultry research company. Southern Poultry Research, Inc. has now been in business over 30 years serving the pharmaceutical and poultry industries working on nutritional, coccidiosis vaccination, Necrotic Enteritis, Salmonella, and replacements for antibiotic growth promoters. During that time he has written numerous manuscripts and trade articles. He has extensively made scientific presentations (300+ as author or co-author), lectures, and taught numerous poultry pathology courses both nationally and internationally. He was awarded the American Poultry Historical Society Award. He is also an international judge for retriever dog trials.

Huaijun Zhou
University of California, Davis

Huaijun Zhou received his PhD in molecular genetics and immunogenetics in 2002 and MS in bioinformatics and computational biology in 2003 from Iowa State University. In 2006, Zhou joined the faculty of Texas A&M University as an assistant professor in the department of poultry science. In 2011, he joined the department of animal science at the University of California, Davis. He is currently a professor and Chancellor's Fellow at UC Davis. Zhou's research program applies genetic, genomic, and bioinformatics technologies to address important biological questions, applies the knowledge to improve global food security, production efficiency, and food safety, and currently leads international efforts in annotating livestock genomes. Zhou is the program director of USAID Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Genomics to Improve Poultry, under the US Government's Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative. Zhou has published 98 full-length papers, two book chapters, and 186 abstracts and conference proceedings. He has served on the USDA and NSF review panels and reviewed research grants for national and international funding agencies. He is section editor of genetics and genomics in Poultry Science, and serves on the editorial boards of multiple reputational peer-reviewed journals. Zhou has been honored with the Outstanding Overseas Young Investigator Award, NSF China (2009), the Hy-Line International Research Award (2010), the PSA Early Achievement Award for Research (2011), the Evonik Degussa Award for Achievement in Poultry Science (2016), and the Zoetis Fundamental Science Award (2018).

Cristiano Bortoluzzi
University of Georgia

Cristiano Bortoluzzi is a doctor of veterinary medicine, currently pursuing a PhD in the department of poultry science at the University of Georgia. Since he was young, animal production has always been his passion. He grew up on a farm in southern Brazil among dairy cows, swine, and poultry, and this contact with animal production sparked his interest and influenced his career choice. In his first year of vet school, Bortoluzzi did several internships, until he found what interested him the most: poultry nutrition and health. Throughout his DVM studies, he was actively involved in research trials, attended scientific meetings, and learned about the intestinal health/immune system of broilers and the importance of nutrition. While working for his master's degree, he spent three months working with USDA/ARS in Indiana. In January 2015, he started his PhD in animal science at Purdue University, later moving to UGA. Bortoluzzi has published 18 papers, and will finish his PhD in the fall. He is looking forward to working in and helping the poultry industry with his expertise.

Krista N. Eberle-Krish
North Carolina State University 

Krista Eberle-Krish is PhD candidate under the direction of Dr. Kenneth Anderson and Dr. Jesse Grimes in the prestage department of poultry science at North Carolina State University. Eberle-Krish is focusing on production, pre-harvest food safety, and agricultural and extension education within the egg and turkey breeder industry. She received a BS from Purdue University in animal science and an MS in poultry science from Mississippi State University under the guidance of Dr. Aaron Kiess. She is also a graduate of the Midwest Poultry Consortium's Center of Excellence Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before returning to earn her doctorate, she was the custom vaccine business manager at Ceva Animal Health, where she directed the development, production, planning, and processing of autogenous vaccines. Prior to working at Ceva, she was the director of food safety for the United Egg Producers where she spent time working on food safety issues surrounding Salmonella Enteritidis. Since her arrival at North Carolina State University, Eberle-Krish has been engaged in research that gives egg producers options for depopulating laying hens in the event of a notifiable emergency disease outbreak.