A delegation of 16 Chinese veterinarians and 2 translators recently completed an intensive 4 week training program in field epidemiology at the AVC. Led by Dr. Chen Guosheng, the Director of the Animal Disease Prevention and Control Division of the Veterinary Bureau in the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, the team of veterinarians received instruction in a wide range of topics ranging from disease outbreak investigation, surveillance, measures of disease frequency, population sampling strategies to the correct interpretation of diagnostic test results.

The program was funded by the World Bank and carried out in partnership with Agriteam Canada Inc. of Calgary. Tim Burnley and Sithar Dorjee, two PhD candidates in CVER were the primary instructors with assistance in some applied sessions provided by Drs. Annie Wagener and Maria Forzan. Logistic support for the whole training course was managed by Leanne Newson. At the course wrap up, Dr. Chen made it clear that he wants to build on this effort to develop a long term partnership with UPEI to help China further develop their epidemiology capacity.