IAFP Announces 2020 Travel Award Recipients

Friday, June 19, 2020

Des Moines, Iowa - The International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) will present Travel Awards to the following individuals at IAFP 2020, October 25–28, in Cleveland, Ohio. 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 2020.

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

Dietrich Blum is an Environmental Health Specialist with the New Hanover County Public Health Department in Wilmington, North Carolina. Mr. Blum works primarily in Food Protection conducting inspections of retail food establishments. He also serves in several areas of Environmental Health, including Lodging and Institution Sanitation; Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention; Child-Care and School Sanitation; Public Swimming Pools; and Body Art.

Veronica Bryant is the Environmental Health (EH) Preparedness and Outbreak Coordinator for the North Carolina Environmental Health Section within the North Carolina Division of Public Health, and has more than 13 years of experience in state and local public health. Ms. Bryant is responsible for providing training and technical assistance for local environmental health specialists regarding special events, outbreak investigations, and emergencies. She is also a lead instructor for the NC State Validation and Verification of HACCP Plans at Retail and has been teaching this course since 2017.
Ms. Bryant received the IAFP Travel Award for State or Provincial Health or Agricultural Department Employees in 2016.

Leslie Y. Cobb is an Environmental Health Program Administrator and a duly Registered Sanitarian in the Commonwealth of Kentucky for the Kentucky Department for Public Health’s Food Safety Branch in Frankfort. Ms. Cobb is the Coordinator of the Kentucky Rapid Response Team, the Environmental Strike Team, and the Produce Safety Cooperative Agreement Program.

Taryn Hurley is the Laboratory Quality Manager for the Oklahoma Department ofAgriculture, Food, and Forestry (ODAFF). Ms. Hurley’s current duties include ensuring that staff receive regular safety and ethics training, as well as quality system training when needed. She joined ODAFF in 2015 as an Environmental/Chemical Laboratory Scientist I analyzing environmental water samples throughout Oklahoma. In 2018, she transitioned to Quality Manager overseeing the quality assurance program and quality systems of five different locations with the department.

Temesgen Jemaneh is a Sanitarian for the Food Safety and Hygiene Inspection Services Division (FSHISD), DC Health in the District of Columbia. Dr. Jemaneh is currently working as a Food Safety Inspector for the Division and is a member of the Food Protection Task Force and FSHISD Rapid Response Team, whose members play a vital role as first responders to all confirmed foodborne illness complaints. He has several years of experience in public health serving as an instructor, regulator, and consultant, and in environmental health investigating, inspecting, and monitoring environmental impacts, foodborne illnesses, and Occupational Health and Safety supervision of institutions.

Kendra Kilawee is a Bacteriologist in the Microbiology Unit at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture in St. Paul, Minnesota. Ms. Kilawee performs routine and complex microbiological analyses on food, beverage, and environmental samples in support of the Department’s regulatory divisions, as well as various Federal regulatory partners. She is in the final stages of completing her Master’s in Food Safety through Michigan State University’s online program.

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

Kolawole Banwo is a Lecturer and Researcher in the Food Microbiology, Biotechnology and Safety Unit of the Department of Microbiology at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Dr. Banwo teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses on food microbiology, safety assessment, quality control, and usefulness of food grade microorganisms. He also mentors young academics in food safety and quality assurance. His current research is on the detoxification of mycotoxin and metabolites profile from traditional fermented foods in Nigeria using lactic acid bacteria and yeasts in collaboration with the Aflasafe Unit of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan.

Chathudina Janitha Liyanage is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Food Science and Technology at the Sabaragamuwa University in Sri Lanka. Mr. Liyanage’s focus is on food safety and risk analysis. His academic expertise covers areas such as food process engineering and product development; dairy processing technology; process control; and automation in food industry and food quality management. His research covers several aspects of food technology including valorization of food waste streams and food processing by-products; biobased polymers for food packaging; bacterial cellulose-based hydrogels and nanocomposites; bioconversion of organic wastes by black soldier fly larvae; and food safety issues of street-vended food. Mr. Liyanage served as the university’s Head of the Department of Food Science and Technology from 2016–2019.

Muhammad Bilal Sadiq is Assistant Professor in the School of Life Sciences at Forman Christian College, A Chartered University in Lahore, Pakistan. Dr. Bilal is responsible for teaching and the research supervision of students enrolled in the college’s Masters’ food safety and quality management program. His broad range of research interests are in the field of food safety and quality management, including food preservation, food processing, food microbiology, food packaging, food safety data analysis, and food formulations.