IAFP Announces 2018 Travel Award Recipients

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Des Moines, Iowa - The International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) will present Travel Awards to the following individuals at IAFP 2018, July 8–11, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Sponsored by IAFP and the IAFP Foundation, the Travel Award for State or Provincial Health or Agricultural Department Employees and the Travel Award for Food Safety Professionals in a Country with a Developing Economy will provide funding to enable recipients to travel to and participate in IAFP 2018.

The Travel Award for State or Provincial Health or Agricultural Department Employees will be presented to the following individuals:

Luisa Castro is the Agricultural Food Safety Program Manager for the Hawaii Department of Health in Honolulu. Dr. Castro is currently helping develop the state’s program to ensure Hawaii’s farmers, ranchers, produce distributors and wholesalers and other affected parties are in compliance with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) through outreach and education, as well as inspections. Dr. Castro has also worked on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) outreach to growers in Hawaii for more than 10 years.

Jason Crowe is a Biological Administrator in the Division of Food Safety’s (DFS) Food Laboratory at the State of Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in Tallahassee. In this position, Dr. Crowe serves as Principal Investigator for the USDA-FSIS Cooperative Agreement Program, ensuring proper performance to meet project goals and objectives, and expanding his roles in the food safety community including serving as a technical subject matter expert for the Association of Food and Drug Officials. He has managed the Molecular Biology and Rapid Response laboratory section in DFS and, since 2014, has served as the Project Manager for the FDA Avocado Surveillance Assignment. Dr. Crowe also serves as a Food Laboratory Subject Matter Expert for the Association of Food and Drug Officials.

Pongpan Laksanalamal is a Principal Developmental Scientist for the Maryland Department of Health’s Laboratory Administration in Baltimore, where he collaborates with ISO-accredited food laboratory staff to detect different foodborne pathogens involved in outbreak situations in the state. Dr. Laksanalamal led a project to implement the use of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry for isolate confirmation. He currently leads projects such as detection of Clostridiumperfringens from foods and Listeria sp. from surfaces of food environment, and serves as a Principal Investigator for the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS), funded by the FDA.

Jessica Laurent serves as the Rapid Response Team (RRT) Investigator and Analyst with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA). In this role, Ms. Laurent assists and leads investigations into foodborne illness outbreaks and food contamination investigations involving the MDA. She is also involved in routine sampling projects, pesticide misuse, and emergency response.

Danielle Wroblewski is a Laboratorian for the New York State Department of Health’s Division of Infectious Disease in Albany, New York. Ms. Wroblewski joined the Enteric section of the Bacteriology Laboratory at the Wadsworth Center in 2016, where her specific area of interest is in foodborne outbreaks and investigations. She also has an in-depth knowledge of developing and validating molecular methods for enteric pathogens within the laboratory.

The Travel Award for Food Safety Professionals in a Country with a Developing Economy will be presented to the following individuals:

AyoJesutomi Abiodun-Solanke is a Lecturer at the Federal College of Fisheries and Marine Technology in Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria. Dr. Abiodun-Solanke teaches fish safety and utilization and is also working to develop safe smoked fish products through the quality control assurance of fish and its habitats. She works extensively on the fatty acid profile of fish, especially as it relates to the processing methods. In addition, Dr. Abiodun-Solanke coordinates the local chapter of the international ocean conversation organization, Mundus Maris-Science and Arts for Sustainability, which provides scientific and relevant indigenous knowledge and encourages artistic expression about the sea to promote its restoration, conservation and sustainable use. She is the recipient of several awards, including the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD).

Fernanda Bovo Campagnollo is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Food Science at the University of Campinas in São Paulo, Brazil. Dr. Campagnollo’s current focus is on the use of lactic acid bacteria with anti-listerial activity to reduce the growth or inactivation of Listeria monocytogenes cells in traditional Brazilian cheeses. Her postdoctoral work also includes modeling the competition between these microorganisms in this food matrix and developing risk assessment models of listeriosis in the cheeses.

Mauricio Redondo-Solano is an Associate Professor on the Faculty of Microbiology at the University of Costa Rica in San José, Costa Rica. As the only microbiologist with a food science degree in Costa Rica, Dr. Redondo-Solano teaches courses related to food safety and food microbiology to undergraduate and graduate students, and has advised several microbiology undergraduate and graduate students. Most of Dr. Redondo-Solano’s work has focused on the study of pathogenic sporeformers such as Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium difficile, in addition to the biofilm formation capacity of Listeria monocytogenes. He has published more than 10 peer-reviewed papers.