John VanLeeuwen

Biography

Professor, Epidemiology & Ruminant Health Management

DVM, MSc, PhD (Guelph)

Dr VanLeeuwen holds, or has held, the following positions: Leader of an international smallholder dairy health management program in a number of countries but focused on Kenya; Scientific Program Chair–International Veterinary Epidemiology Conference ‘21; Past President and Current Project Committee Member of Farmers Helping Farmers; Past Chair and Board Member of Veterinarians without Borders-Canada; Past Director of Centre for Veterinary Epidemiologic Research; Past Cdn Director of the Production Limiting Diseases Dairy Research Project; Past President of Cdn Association of Veterinary Epidemiology & Prev Medicine; Past Chief Research Officer of PEI Health Research Institute

He graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) in 1988; worked as a veterinarian in Nova Scotia & Ontario for 4 years; finished a PhD in epidemiology at OVC in 1997.

Dr VanLeeuwen has been working at AVC as a professor since 1997 as a ½ time Farm Service Clinician and a ½ time Epidemiologist in classrooms and on farms in PEI and other places in the world. He has been the primary supervisor for 30 graduate students, and was on the supervisory committee for another 20 graduate students. He provided supervision for 6 residents in Farm Service. He supervised 60 undergraduate students during summer jobs that usually supported graduate students in their research projects. He has over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, 50 papers in conference proceedings and non-refereed scientific publications, 115 abstracts in conference proceedings, 20 discussion papers, technical reports or lay extension, 8 books or book chapters, 40 invited oral scientific presentations, 35 contributed oral scientific presentations, and 30 presentations to producers’ groups and other layperson organizations. Most of these documents were co-authored with graduate students. He was a lead on proposed research that was funded and worth over $12 million, and a collaborator on other research worth over $10 million. Most of the funding involved graduate student research. The research has included areas within Agroecosystem Health, One Health, and Ecohealth, along with non-zoonotic infectious and non-infectious diseases affecting ruminant health management. He was a lead on proposed international development projects that were funded and worth over $11.2 million, and a collaborator on other projects worth over $20 million. Most of the projects involved graduate students. He has participated in 24 qualifying exams of PhD students at AVC, 29 graduate student thesis exams at AVC, and 9 graduate student thesis exams at other universities. He has taught in 6 different graduate courses, coordinating all of them at some time. He has taught and coordinated numerous other undergraduate courses at AVC that helped to build a solid foundation for some of the students that went on to do graduate studies at AVC. He has been involved in numerous international, national, regional, provincial, community, and UPEI service related directly or indirectly to administration for graduate student funding and other opportunities.