Keynote Speakers
Immerse yourself in four days of stellar and exceptional applied and fundamental sciences led by eminent leaders in poultry research. The first day is bookended by six plenary sessions keynotes to inspire the entire poultry science community.
Meet The Speakers
Cheryl Stroud, DVM, PhD
Wondering what One Health is all about and why it is so urgent for today’s decision making?
Observe COVID-19, the global avian influenza epizootic and today's salmonella challenges. This presentation will share the full scope of One Health and highlight why it is so critical that we develop working relationships across sectors ‘ahead’ of zoonotic health crises and food safety emergencies. It will provide a very brief overview of the global One Health movement and suggest relevance of One Health thinking and acting for the poultry industry and for sustainable food systems.
Executive Director, One Health Commission
North Carolina, USA
Cheryl Stroud is a veterinarian with a PhD in endocrine physiology and a passion for conveying the urgency of implementing One Health thinking, acting and decision making at all levels of academia, research, clinical practice, government and policy. She has enjoyed professional experiences in Industry, Academic Teaching and Research, Private Veterinary Practice and as a One Health practitioner.
Since 2013 Cheryl has served as Executive Director of the One Health Commission (OHC), a non-profit organization chartered in Washington, D.C., headquartered in central North Carolina and working globally to ‘connect’ One Health stakeholders, to ‘create’ teams that work across disciplines to ‘educate’ about One Health. Through its volunteer working groups the OHC provides opportunities for individuals and organizations to transcend institutional and disciplinary boundaries to transform the way that human, animal, plant, and ecosystem health professionals work together to jointly address today’s One Health challenges. Among its many initiatives, in 2016 the Commission spearheaded creation of an annual global One Health Day now in its 10th year of celebration around the world every year on November 3.
Dr. Ingrid de Jong, PhD
Join Dr. Jong and learn about how welfare is an important aspect of a sustainable poultry production. How do we provide the birds with an environment meeting their needs will be discussed. The lecture also includes how to assess welfare, and the most recent developments in poultry welfare assessment and application of novel technologies.
Senior Researcher Poultry Welfare,
Wageningen University, Netherlands
Ingrid de Jong is currently working as senior animal welfare scientist/project manager at the Animal Health and Welfare Department of Wageningen Livestock Research, Wageningen University & Research, the Netherlands. She graduated at Wageningen University in Animal Sciences and obtained her PhD degree in 2000 at Groningen University, Department of Animal Physiology. Her research focuses on all aspects of welfare of broiler chickens and laying hens, including development of welfare assessment protocols and animal-based welfare indicators, effects of early life conditions on welfare, effective environmental enrichment (including lighting). Her projects are often combining ethology with stress physiology, immunology, and nutrition and apply sensor technology for behavior assessment. She is and has been involved in the supervision of PhD students. She (co)authored 92 scientific papers (H-index 32, ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1811-499X) and various book chapters mainly related to chicken welfare.
Dr. Frank Mitloehner, PhD
Tackle tough issues with Dr. Mitloehner. Meat, poultry, and dairy will continue to be an essential part of diets around the world, but as demand increases so does pressure to reduce the environmental impact of farming. There is no single solution that will allow the global community to meet demand and improve sustainability in our food system, we will need a toolkit of solutions to meet the needs of producers in various regions and production systems.
Professor & Director, CLEAR Center,
UC Davis, USA
Mitloehner is a Professor and Air Quality Extension Specialist in the Department of Animal Science at the University of California, Davis, USA. He received his MS degree in Animal Science and Agricultural Engineering from the University of Leipzig, Germany, and his PhD degree in Animal Science from Texas Technical University. He serves as director of the CLEAR Center, which conducts air- and climate research and related communication. Dr. Mitloehner is an expert for agricultural air quality, livestock housing and husbandry. Overall, he conducts research that is directly relevant to understanding and mitigating the air emissions from livestock operations, as well as the implications of these emissions for the health and safety of farm workers and neighboring communities. Since he joined the UC Davis faculty in 2002, he published 130 peer reviewed publications, and as principal investigator he obtained over $25M in extramural funding. Dr. Mitloehner has presented over 1,000 invited talks in front of national and international audiences. Dr. Mitloehner has served as chairman of a global United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) partnership project to benchmark the environmental footprint of livestock production. He served as workgroup member on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and as member of the National Academies of Science Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee on “A Framework for Assessing the Health, Environmental, and Social Effects of the Food System”.
Kim Stackhouse-Lawson, PhD
Dr. Kim Stackhouse-Lawson's presentation on sustainable animal agriculture will explore how supply chain innovations can enhance environmental stewardship, economic viability, and resilience in livestock production. She will highlight advancements in climate-smart practices, emissions reduction strategies, and data-driven decision-making that reduce the sector’s environmental footprint while ensuring global food security.
Director of AgNext, Professor,
Colorado State University, USA
Dr. Kim Stackhouse-Lawson is a professor in the department of Animal Sciences at Colorado State University and the Director of CSU AgNext. CSU AgNext utilizes a multidisciplinary approach to advance sustainable solutions for animal agriculture. Prior to leading CSU AgNext, Kim was the Director of Sustainability for JBS USA where she was responsible for coordinating the company’s corporate sustainability program and strategy. Kim also served as the Executive Director of Global Sustainability at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association where she developed the industry’s sustainability program. Kim received her PhD in Animal Science from the University of California, Davis and was a postdoctoral fellow at Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine Beef Cattle Institute. She was awarded as the 2018 Distinguished Young Alumni by the UC Davis College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. She and her husband, Spencer, live on the eastern plains of Colorado with their two sons, Weston and Callan.
Dr. Suresh Raja Neethirajan
Join Dr. Suresh Neethirajan at #WPC2026 as he reveals how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is decoding the language of chickens, transforming poultry welfare and sustainability like never before. Discover how digital twins, advanced analytics, and ethical AI solutions are advancing egg and broiler production for a smarter, kinder future in poultry farming.
Associate Professor & Dalhousie University Research Chair, Dalhousie University, Canada
Dr. Suresh Neethirajan is a globally recognized scientist and thought leader in precision livestock farming, digital agriculture, and artificial intelligence applications for animal welfare. He is a Professor and University Research Chair at Dalhousie University, Canada, where he leads cutting-edge research at the intersection of computer science, agriculture, and animal behavior. Suresh's pioneering work in decoding the language of chickens using AI is playing a significant role in advancing poultry welfare, farm efficiency, and sustainability in egg and broiler production. With a strong commitment to interdisciplinary research, Suresh has collaborated with leading universities, industry partners, and governmental organizations worldwide. His research continues to drive advancements in digital twins for livestock, AI-powered welfare assessment tools, and smart farming technologies that enhance animal health and productivity. Suresh has received numerous international awards for his contributions to agricultural AI and poultry science. He has served as an advisor to key stakeholders in the poultry industry, contributing to policy development, precision livestock analytics, and ethical AI frameworks for farm animal management. As a keynote speaker at the World Poultry Congress, Dr. Suresh Neethirajan will share his insights on the future of AI-driven poultry welfare, addressing challenges, opportunities, and the transformative role of technology in shaping the next generation of sustainable poultry farming. His talk will offer a visionary perspective on integrating AI, IoT, and precision analytics to optimize poultry production while ensuring high welfare standards.
Huaijun Zhou, Ph.D. Professor
Explore the intersection of genetics, genomics, epigenomics, and bioinformatics in poultry science, and discover how cutting-edge research in poultry genetics and genome annotation is transforming our understanding of genetic resistance to pathogens, genetic improvement of poultry production traits, welfare, and other complex traits in chickens. These insights will pave the way for innovations in global food security, production efficiency, and poultry disease resilience, shaping the future of sustainable poultry farming.
Department of Animal Science, Genome Center
University of California, Davis
Huaijun Zhou is a Full Professor, Chancellor’s Leadership Professor, and Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of California, Davis. He previously served as Chair of the Immunology Graduate Group and USDA Poultry Genome Coordinator. Dr. Zhou earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics and Immunogenetics (2002) and an M.S. in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (2003) from Iowa State University. His research integrates genetics, genomics, comparative epigenomics, and bioinformatics to improve global food security, production efficiency, and food safety. He is internationally recognized for livestock genome annotation, particularly identifying regulatory elements, with research focused on genetic resistance to pathogens, host–pathogen interactions in chickens, and comparative epigenomics of complex traits.
Dr. Zhou has secured over $40 million in research funding, including $20 million as Principal Investigator from agencies such as USAID, USDA, NIH, FFAR, and industry partners. He directed the USAID Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Genomics to Improve Poultry, targeting food security in East and West Africa. With over 170 publications in prestigious journals (e.g. Nature, Science, Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, Science Advances, Genome Research, Genome Biology, and Cell Host & Microbe), Dr. Zhou has an h-index of 53 and i10-index of 136. He has authored seven book chapters and contributed over 300 conference abstracts.
His outstanding contributions to science have earned him numerous prestigious awards, including: Hy-Line International Research Award (2010); PSA Early Achievement Award for Research (2011); Evonik Degussa Award for Achievement in Poultry Science (2016); Zoetis Fundamental Science Award (2018); Chancellor’s Award for International Engagement, Prize of Outstanding Achievement in Science (AAFC) (2020). In 2023, Dr. Zhou was awarded the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences, the first animal scientist recipient. In 2024, he was named Inaugural Top Agrifood Pioneer by the World Food Prize Foundation, and elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2025.