Biomedical Research Analyst to Speak at Animal Wellbeing Symposium

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Threats facing biomedical research and its relationship to animal welfare will be discussed Aug. 6 by Paul McKellips at the fifth annual Symposium on Current Issues and Advances in Food Animal Wellbeing. McKellips, a former vice president of the Foundation for Biomedical Research, will deliver his remarks at the event sponsored by the Center for Food Animal Wellbeing, a unit of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

The event will be held in the John W. Tyson Building's Leland Tollett Auditorium on the University of Arkansas campus. Registration is $25. Those planning to attend should register by July 31. Registration information and the program are online at foodanimalwellbeing.uark.edu/AnnualSymposium. 

McKellips, whose background includes television, movies and public service, will explain how biomedical research protects the world's population from bioterrorism and state-sponsored biowarfare and the military's role. He has served as a public affairs specialist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan during his military career.

"I am excited that we are able to hear from Mr. McKellips as I believe he will help us better understand the situation with animal care and its impact on the future of world health," said Yvonne Vizzier Thaxton, director for the Center for Food Animal Wellbeing.

Other speakers presenting at the symposium include Paul Siegel, Virginia Tech University distinguished professor emeritus of animal and poultry science; Carla Warding, Faces of Farming and Ranching winner for U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance; Lucy Anthernill, U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service humane handling enforcement coordinator; Colin Scanes, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, professor of animal physiology and nutrition; Kate Barger, Cobb-Vantress, Inc., director of animal welfare; Ruth Woiwode, University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture post-doctoral fellow; Karen Christensen, Division of Agriculture associate professor and extension specialist, and Rusty Rumley, senior staff attorney at the Division of Agriculture's National Agricultural Law Center.

The goal for the Center for Food Animal Wellbeing is to improve animal health, animal handling, food safety and productivity by developing and defining objective measurements of wellbeing including measures of behavior, stress physiology, neurophysiology, immunology, microbiology and production efficiency.