Keynotes

Dr. Nick Saint-Erne is a Certified Aquatic Veterinarian who is passionate about pets, exotic animals, and aquatic veterinary medicine. He has nearly 40 years of experience in treating dogs, cats, rabbits, rodents, ferrets, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and other exotic animals. Dr. Nick has worked in veterinary hospitals treating a variety of animals, including zoo animals and exotic pets. He was one of the first group of veterinarians certified as an Aquatic Veterinarian by the World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association, and in 2017 was designated as a Distinguished Fellow of WAVMA. Dr. Nick grew up in Wichita, Kansas and his major field of study was Fisheries Biology for his Bachelor of Science degree at Kansas State University. He attended the AQUAVET Program at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA in 1982. In 1984 he received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Kansas State University. After graduation, he moved to warmer climes and practiced small animal and exotic pet medicine in Las Vegas, Nevada for 15 years (1984-1999). In 1999 he moved to Arizona where he has worked in the retail pet industry and in clinical practice for aquatic animals and exotic pets. He is the Executive Editor for The Aquatic Veterinarian journal of the World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association and was the WAVMA President for 2016. He is also a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, and the Association of Reptile and Amphibian Veterinarians. Dr. Nick lectures worldwide on animal care topics for veterinarians, the aquaculture industry, and pet owners. He also has taught the classes on Exotic Pet and Aquatic Animal Medicine to veterinary students at Midwestern University College of Veterinary Medicine. Each year, since 2008, he teaches a two-day seminar on koi fish health at the Associated Koi Clubs of America annual convention

Dr. Stephen Reichley is the Associate Director of the Mississippi State University Global Center for Aquatic Health and Food Security. He is the Deputy Director and Risk Mitigation Specialist for the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish and helps administer the Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Conversation, Recovery, and Monitoring Program. Dr. Reichley is also an Assistant Professor in the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine Department of Pathobiology and Population Medicine. In addition, Dr. Reichley is slated to head the new FAO Reference Center on Antimicrobial Resistance and Aquaculture Biosecurity, which will be housed within the MSU Global Center for Aquatic Health and Food Security. Previously, Dr. Reichley served as the Director of R&D and Fish Health for Clear Springs Foods, at the time the largest producer of freshwater rainbow trout in the United States. In that role, he had oversight of the R&D program, including internal, external, and contract research projects. He was responsible for the health and welfare of 45+ million fish across brood, hatchery, and grow-out operations; and directed the Diagnostic and Research Laboratory as well as the Water Quality and Analytical Laboratory. Dr. Reichley is a Certified Aquatic Veterinarian and has extensive experience in the culture of aquatic species in several continents. He has numerous scientific publications related to aquatic animal health and has given lectures and seminars throughout the world. Dr. Reichley serves as Immediate Past President of the World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association, a Director-at-Large for the American Association of Fish Veterinarians, and Chair of the American Fisheries Society Fish Health Section Technical Standards Committee.

Roy P.E.Yanong joined the University of Florida IFAS Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory in 1996. Currently Professor and Extension Veterinarian, Roy provides extension, research, and educational programs in fish health management and aquatic animal health, including on-site veterinary assistance and disease diagnostic support for aquaculturists throughout the state. Roy also works closely with state and federal agriculture and natural resources agencies, veterinarians, and other fish health professionals, and has consulted for farms and institutions worldwide.

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine, he concentrated in aquatic animal medicine and received his V.M.D. in May 1992. After graduation from veterinary school, he was hired by 5-D Tropical, Inc., a large ornamental fish farm in Plant City, Florida. He worked as staff veterinarian there for four and a half years, immediately prior to joining UF.

Roy’s extension and research programs are applied and industry-driven and concentrated primarily in ornamental and food fish species. Focus areas include baseline health parameters, health management, disease prevention and diagnostics, disease characterization, chemotherapeutics and biologics, and biosecurity. In collaboration with other faculty and staff at UF/IFAS, Roy is also involved with aquatic invertebrate, amphibian, and reptile health and disease work.

Roy and his colleagues at the TAL, UF/IFAS Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences Program/SFFGS, and the UF College of Veterinary Medicine work collaboratively to promote the advancement of aquatic animal medicine and fish health management through numerous courses, internships, externships, extension and scientific publications, continuing education sessions, and other venues.

Over the past 30 years, Roy has participated in numerous local, state, and national aquaculture and fish health-related committees. He is currently the Chair of the Aquatics Working Group for the American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA’s) Panel on Euthanasia; a former member and Chair of the AVMA’s Aquatic Veterinary Medicine Committee; and a past member of the AVMA’s Animal Agriculture Liaison Committee. He is also a founding member, former President, and Executive Board member of the American Association of Fish Veterinarians, and a member of the American Fisheries Society-Fish Health Section, WAVMA, the International Association for Aquatic Animal Medicine, the U.S. Aquaculture Society, and the World Aquaculture Society.