Two UC Researchers Honored

DAVIS, CA - 10/11/06 - Two faculty members of the University of California-Davis(UC-Davis) School of  Veterinary Medicine  were  honored withawards.

Carol Cordona, cooperative extension poultry veterinarian and associate professorof UC-Davis received the Golden Rooster Award from the California Poultry Federationfor her work on preventing avian influenza, while entomologist William Reisentook home the John N. Belkin Award for contributions to mosquito biology.

Cardona is part of a network of researchers nationwide providing public and industryeducation about bird flu. She works with large commercial poultry producers aswell as small poultry operations to provide basic information on how to recognizeand prevent spread of the disease. Her laboratory also conducts research on avianinfluenza viruses focusing on the disease caused in chickens and the responseof the host to infections.

Reisen, a mosquito specialist at the Center for Vectorborne Diseases, won theBelkin Award from the American Mosquito Control Association for meritorious contributionsto mosquito systematics - the processes involved in describing a speciesand/or biology. The association established the award in 1981, the year afterBelkin's death. He was a UCLA professor and renowned mosquito taxonomist.

Reisen, who accepted the honor at the association's recent conference in Detroit,became the second entomologist at UC-Davis to receive the award. Reisen worksin the Arbovirus Research Program, and serves as an adjunct professor with theDepartment of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at the UC-Davis School ofVeterinary Medicine. His focus now is the Culex mosquito and its ability to transmitarboviruses, including West Nile virus.