Keri Norman receives the prestigious Mark Gearhart Memorial Graduate Student Award

We are very excited to announce that Keri Norman - PhD candidate in epidemiology - was awarded the prestigious Mark Gearhart Memorial Graduate Student.  The award was present to Keri by the Association for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine ( http://vetmed.illinois.edu/avepm ) at the 2009 Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases meeting in Chicago, IL, Dec 6-8.  The Mark Gearhart Memorial Graduate Student Award recognizes a graduate student who is completing or has just completed advanced academic or professional training in veterinary epidemiology, public health, or preventive medicine. The award consists of a plaque and $1,000 and is based on a research paper submitted to a panel of AVEPM Members. Keri's paper was: Varied prevalence of Clostridium difficile in an integrated swine operation. K.N. Norman, R.B. Harvey, H.M. Scott, M.E. Hume, K. Andrews, A.D. Brawley. Anaerobe, 2009. Volume 15, Issue 6, pages 256-260.

Keri is very close to completing her PhD.  She works under the supervision of Dr. Morgan Scott (currently at Kansas State University) on a project investigating the prevalence and genotypic characteristics of Clostridium difficile in a closed and integrated human and swine population.  The objectives are to compare the prevalence of C. difficile in swine production groups to explore the possibility for food borne exposure and also compare the prevalence in wastewater samples derived from swine workers and non-workers to explore possible occupational exposure.

Congratulations Keri!