Tick Academy speakers announced

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The Tick Academy will be held over Zoom Oct. 11-12, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Central Time.

Once a year, the Tick IPM Working Group hosts the Tick Academy, which is an opportunity for researchers, educators, students, public health professionals, pest management professionals, public-space managers and citizen scientists interested in learning more about what they can do to stop the spread of ticks and tick-borne diseases in their communities. The speakers will be:

Oct. 11, 2023

• 10 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.: Alexis White, entomologist, Arthropod-Borne Disease Lab, Suffolk County Department of Health Services
  • Release the hens: A study on the complexities of guinea fowl as tick control
•  10:30 a.m. – 11 a.m.: Erik Foster, medical entomologist, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • Evaluating the capacity of vector control agencies to implement public health tick management programs
• 11 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.: Bob Maurais, educational outreach, Mainely Ticks
  • We know ticks – A pest management professional’s approach to community-based tick education
• 12 p.m. – 1 p.m.: Jean Tsao, associate professor, Michigan State University
  • How well public health education messages are doing for reducing tick-borne diseases
• 1 p.m. – 2 p.m.: Erika Machtinger, associate professor of entomology, Pennsylvania State University
  • Leveraging established networks for vector-borne disease training, education and evaluation

Oct. 12, 2023

• 10 a.m. – 11 a.m.: Kirby Stafford, chief scientist, state entomologist, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
  • Challenges and opportunities in tick control: An update on the state of the science
• 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.: Susan Paskewitz, Midwest Center of Excellence Vector-Borne Disease
  • Controlling ticks in the peridomestic environment
• 12:30 p.m. – 1 p.m.: Tammi Johnson, assistant professor of Wildlife Disease Ecology, Texas A&M University
  • Oh deer! Challenges of deer-targeted intervention
• 1 p.m. – 2 p.m.: Brian Allan, professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
  • Effects of plant invasions on tick-borne disease risk

This event has been approved for continuing education units (CEUs) through the California Department of Public Health. Attendees will earn 2.0 Category A and 1.0 C for day one and 3.0 Category C for day two.

The Tick IPM Working Group is in the process of applying for CEUs for other states as well, and expects to have the event approved to earn CEUs for other states soon.

Visit https://bit.ly/TickAcademy2023 for more information and to register for the event.