- Author: Mary E. Reed
Congratulations to Dr. Trevor Suslow who was recently appointed to the American Phytopathological Society (APS) Public Policy Board in December 2007. The PPB provides scientific input on public policy issues to the society’s officers, federal policy makers and agency personnel, and works with other scientific organizations and coalitions to increase the awareness of the science of plant pathology.
Dr. Suslow also recently addressed a plenary session of the 2007 APS Annual Meeting regarding “Plant Pathology: A key discipline for microbial food safety cross-talk”. This was an important event which brought APS members together with members of the food safety research community to discuss cross-domain bacteria (pathogens that infect plants and animals, including humans).
Future PPB plans include working with the newly formed APS Food Safety Interest Group to create opportunities, via a national workshop, for synergism between plant pathology and food safety research communities. Dr. Suslow is working with PPB members to secure funding for a National Workshop on Food Safety to help define the roles that plant pathologists can play in research, detection/diagnostics and prevention of human food borne pathogens in the food. Workshop goals include setting research priorities, fostering cooperation among plant pathologists and food safety experts and identifying targeted research funding sources. For more information see: www.apsnet.org/members/ppb/.
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