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Further information will be published when other Keynote speakers are confirmed.
Dr. Y. De Geus, DVM, diplomate European College of Veterinary Public Health
Assistant Professor, Utrecht University, Veterinary Medicine, Population Health Sciences
Yvette de Geus worked for nearly thirteen years as a practicing veterinarian specializing in (small) ruminants. Recently, she obtained her PhD for her research on the bacterial count in goat milk. Nowadays she works as a researcher and assistant professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Utrecht, where she focuses on small ruminant health, udder health, zoonotic diseases, and the food safety of dairy products. Her passion for the profession remains undiminished: you could wake her up for a bacterial count problem in dairy goats.
Prof.em.dr. Piet A. van Rijn
Department of Virology and Molecular Biology, Wageningen Bioveterinary Research, Lelystad, the Netherlands
Piet is molecular virologist and has supervised many research projects on development of vaccines and diagnostics. Since 2002, he was head of the Dutch statutory research task "Viral Zoonoses and Vector-borne animal Diseases", mainly involved in (modern) diagnostics and preparedness. He was heavily involved in control of Bluetongue outbreaks. By use of reverse genetics, his research group has developed deletion virus variants as Disabled Infectious Single Animal (DISA)-DIVA vaccine platforms for midge-borne orbiviruses. These platforms deliver vaccines for many serotypes meeting all criteria of modern veterinary vaccines (safety, efficacy, cost competitive, and DIVA). Piet retired in January 2025.
Mrs. Sheep
Assistant Professor, Utrecht University, Veterinary Medicine, Population Health Sciences
Mrs. Sheep worked for nearly thirteen years as a practicing veterinarian specializing in (small) ruminants. Recently, she obtained her PhD for her research on the bacterial count in goat milk. Nowadays she works as a researcher and assistant professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Utrecht, where she focuses on small ruminant health, udder health, zoonotic diseases, and the food safety of dairy products. Her passion for the profession remains undiminished: you could wake her up for a bacterial count problem in dairy goats.
