Dr. Jean I. Tsao, Keynote speaker

• Session Title: Host-targeted control to reduce tick-borne disease: considerations for future research and implementation  

• Description: The magnitude and persistent increase in incidence of tick bites and tick-borne diseases in the US underlies the need to develop alternative, effective approaches to reducing tick bites. Interventions targeting the animal hosts that maintain tick and/or the pathogen populations have been pursued as an approach to complement other tick-bite/tick-borne disease prevention methods. Here I will discuss motivations for using host-targeted control approaches and then provide some considerations for future research and implementation.  
• Bio: Dr. Tsao has more than 30 years of experience learning about the ecology of ticks and tick-borne pathogens with implications for improving public health. Together with many colleagues and motivated students, Dr. Tsao has had the privilege to investigate the ecology of Lyme borreliosis in endemic, non-endemic, and emerging areas at local, regional, and continental spatial scales. Funded by the CDC’s Midwest Center of Excellence, NIH, and other sources, current research in Dr. Tsao’s lab includes elucidating the ecological processes underlying the emergence and distribution of ticks and tick-borne pathogens; developing approaches to reduce disease risk by intervening in the enzootic cycle or by changing human behavior; and investigating how interactions between the microbiome and the tick may influence tick phenotypes and disease risk. Dr. Tsao has served as an associate editor for the international journal Ticks and Tickborne Diseases; served as a member of the 2018 Subcommittee for Disease Vectors, Surveillance, and Prevention for the US Department of Health and Human Service’s Tickborne Disease Working Group; and was a co-author of the 2021 Infectious Disease Society of America’s Guidelines for the Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Lyme disease. 

Dr. Kathryn Reif

• Session Title: Interrupting Transmission: Investigations into How Rapid Tick Kill and Feeding Behavior Shape Disease Risk

• Description: Rapid tick kill can reduce opportunities for pathogen transmission, but understanding what happens during the interval between tick attachment and tick death or pathogen transmission is equally important. This session will examine how isoxazoline drugs differ in their speed of tick kill and ability to prevent tick-borne pathogen transmission, as well as, explore how electropenetrography may be uniquely leveraged to provide real-time, quantitative insights into how isoxazoline exposure and pathogen infection may influence tick feeding behavior and transmission risk.
• Bio: Dr. Kathryn Reif is the Bailey-Goodwin Endowed Professor in Parasitology and an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathobiology at Auburn University. She also serves as a board member for the Companion Animal Parasite Council and the Companion Animal Vector-Borne Disease World Forum, and is the vice president of the American Association for Veterinary Parasitologists. Her research program integrates vector biology, veterinary parasitology, and applied disease control, with a particular focus on tick feeding biology, pathogen transmission dynamics, and the comparative efficacy of ectoparasiticides—including studies on tick speed of kill and its role in disease prevention. Dr. Reif’s laboratory has pioneered innovative techniques to study vector–host interactions and evaluate parasite transmission dynamics. Collectively, Dr. Reif’s work bridges fundamental vector biology with clinical applications that inform evidence-based parasite management. She is a frequently invited speaker at national and international conferences and is passionate about translating parasitology research into practical solutions for veterinarians, pet owners, and public health professionals.

Dr. Pete Teel

• Session Title: Concepts and applications of IPM in the US Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program

• Description: The cattle fever tick eradication program was established to eliminate the threat of bovine babesiosis through surveillance, detection, and eradication of the two vectors, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus and R. (B.) microplus. This presentation will review the evolution and integration of tools and applications used to monitor, identify, and eliminate cattle fever tick infestations with the goal of preventing the reestablishment of these vectors in the USA.
• Bio: Pete D. Teel is a Regents Professor, Department of Entomology, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, College Station, Texas. He holds the Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in entomology from Oklahoma State University, and the Master of Science degree in Entomology from Texas A&M University. For more than 45 years, he has studied tick-host-habitat-weather interactions that affect incursions, establishment, and elimination of cattle fever ticks. Pete will review the program mission and the development of tactics used in the eradication of cattle fever ticks over the 120-year history of the US Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program and 21^st century challenges requiring new tactics and integrated approaches. He will discuss recent advances in the development and application of location intelligence data and the integration of data fusion for surveillance, investigation, and quarantine.

Dr. Nicholas Ogden, Keynote speaker

• Session Title: Emergence of Lyme disease in Canada: A 20-year journey from a hypothesis to a public health reality 

• Description: This presentation will describe i) the modelling work that predicted spread of Ixodes scapularis ticks and Lyme disease into Canada; ii) the surveillance that has subsequently tracked the spread of I. scapularis and Lyme disease risk; and iii) attribution of that spread to climate change. 
• Bio: Dr. Nick Ogden is a UK-trained veterinarian with a doctorate in vector-borne disease ecology and post-doctoral training in disease modelling. He is a senior research scientist and Director of Modelling Hub division within the Science-Policy Integration Branch of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), focusing on assessing disease risk by study of the ecology, epidemiology and genetic diversity of vectors and zoonotic and vector-borne micro-organisms. A key component of his work is assessing impacts of climate change on zoonoses and vector-borne diseases, and developing tools for public health adaptation. His team conducts PHAC’s infectious disease modelling encompassing COVID-19, MPOX, vector-borne diseases, and measles in recent years.

Dr. Allison Gardner

• Session Title: Drivers of willingness to pay a tax for tick control on public land

• Description: Despite decades of ecological and entomological research on tick control strategies in residential settings, community uptake of Integrated Tick Management remains low. This session will examine drivers of willingness-to-pay (WTP) for tick control programs on public woodland via a property tax in a region that is strongly impacted by Lyme disease. I will present findings of an economics experiment paired with a survey to 1) empirically estimate residents’ WTP a tax for different tick control methods on public land (i.e., deer culling, invasive vegetation removal, insecticide application); 2) investigate how WTP depends on preferences for control methods, cost of control, and certainty of method efficacy; 3) examine meditators of preference heterogeneity using constructs from the Health Belief Model (perceived severity of disease, perceived susceptibility of disease, perceived benefits of and barriers to intervention); and 4) explore other moderators of preference heterogeneity (conservation values, risk and ambiguity aversion, Lyme disease literacy, and demographic factors). This research contributes to new understanding of how individuals weigh tradeoffs among human, wildlife, and environmental health and the mechanistic drivers of decision-making. Insights gained can serve to guide conservation and public health communication and vector control policy. 
• Bio: Allison (Allie) Gardner, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the School of Biology and Ecology at the University of Maine. The major focus of Gardner’s research is the impacts of human behavior and decision-making on vector-borne pathogen transmission in natural resource economies. She has led multiple interdisciplinary projects investigating tick-borne disease ecology and management on private woodland and feedbacks between human mobility and mosquito-borne virus spread in the nature-based tourism industry. Gardner also leads research on tick control in residential settings, integrating entomology, psychology, and economics, as a founding member of the New England Regional Center of Excellence for Vector-Borne Disease. She has pursued her interest in the adoption of scientific research findings at the policy level as an ESA Science Policy Fellow. 

Anastasia Figurskey

• Session Title: Ticks and Personal Repellents

• Description: This presentation will provide an overview of medically important tick species in the United States, along with a review of the active ingredients commonly used in personal repellent products. We will also describe methods used to evaluate topical repellent efficacy against ticks and highlight some resources for staying informed about tick prevention and control.
• Bio: Anastasia Figurskey is a repellents entomologist at an international consumer packaged goods company that manufactures insect repellent products. She supports the company’s global pest control efforts in developing, testing, and registering topical repellents to be used against mosquitoes, ticks, and other biting arthropods. Her presentation will describe the different topical repellent active ingredients used against ticks, types of products, test guidelines for product registration, and helpful resources to learn more about ticks and protection measures.