''My interest in Epidemiology comes from the desire to improve farm animal health. “Prevention is better than cure”, which brings me to monitoring and surveillance of farm animal health. An effective surveillance program is essential for early detection of exotic or new diseases and to prevent further spread of those diseases. I’m keen to disseminate knowledge on the design of surveillance programs and particularly the quantitative methods that can be used.'' Gerdien van Schaik

Biography

Prof. dr.ir. Gerdien van Schaik obtained an MSc in Animal Science at Wageningen University, the Netherlands with specializations in Epidemiology and Reproduction, and Animal Health Economics. In 2000, she obtained her PhD in Animal Health Economics at the same university. From 2000 to 2002 she worked in the USA as a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University in the Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Science followed by a position in Chile as associate professor in Preventive Medicine at the Universidad Austral de Chile. Between 2004 and 2021, she was heading the Epidemiology group of GD Animal Health. In 2015, she was appointed a chair in Monitoring and Surveillance of Farm Animal Health at the faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Utrecht University. Her chair focusses on evaluation of current surveillance activities and possibilities for improvement with innovative quantitative methods, such as risk-based surveillance and syndromic surveillance.

Fields of expertise:

• Quantitative epidemiology
• Infectious diseases
• Modelling
• Surveillance

Publications

Gerdien van Schaik produced a variety of publications.

View list of publications