NMC Scholars represent global membership base

The “Class of 2027” NMC Scholars hail from a variety of countries and carry diverse international experiences. Judges selected six graduate students to attend the 2027 NMC Annual Meeting, Jan. 25-28, in Jacksonville, Fla. The recipients are Steven Kakooza, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Knoxville, Tenn.; Anna Rebeca Rodriguez Medina, South Dakota State University, Brookings, S.D.; Yindi Xiong, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alb.; Iris de Munck, Wageningen University, Gelderland, Netherlands; Shiow Han, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; and Muusa Takala, University of Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland. The NMC Scholars program strives to support the development of future udder health, milking management and milk quality specialists.

A native of Uganda, Kakooza served as a project assistant for the Japan International Cooperation Agency Animal Disease Control Project, which yielded improved national diagnostic capacity for animal diseases in Uganda. As a public health specialist, he led antimicrobial resistance and veterinary public health research for development projects, and developed training curricula for meat handlers, farmers and animal health professionals. Kakooza’s PhD research involves conducting a retrospective analysis of data to evaluate how farm-level infection, prevention and control practices influence the emergence of multidrug-resistant staphylococci associated with mastitis.

Rodriguez Medina earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the Universidad de Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Currently, she is contributing to a biosecurity/highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) research project by developing HPAI educational materials for Hispanic dairy workers. Her graduate research focuses on udder health and milk quality, including the bacteriological quality of colostrum, chronic mastitis and antibiotic resistance in mastitis-associated pathogens. Rodriguez Medina wants to bridge the gap between research and the milking parlor – translating udder health science into protocols that improve animal well-being and milk quality.

Xiong participated in an undergraduate exchange to Colorado State University when she was studying veterinary medicine at Southwest University, China. During her master’s degree program, she led work on bovine colostrum-derived extracellular vesicles and udder inflammation, exploring biologically grounded approaches that could complement conventional mastitis control. Before starting her PhD, Xiong worked as a dairy veterinarian in China. Xiong’s current research examines the dynamics of Mycoplasma bovis at the herd level in Alberta, integrating longitudinal bulk tank milk surveillance, age-stratified follow-up, molecular detection and herd interpretation.

de Munck’s PhD project involves studying the health and economic effects of grazing on dairy cows, with a focus on the effect of different grazing intensities and durations on udder health. She measured udder health at the herd level by assessing the presence of mastitis-causing pathogens, such as Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus uberis, environmental pathogens and coliforms, in bulk tank milk. Preliminary results indicate that grazing has a limited effect on udder health. However, management practices and farm characteristics play an important role. In addition to her research, de Munck teaches bovine health management at Aeres University of Applied Sciences.

Han, a master’s degree student in engineering, is researching preventative and therapeutic strategies for bovine mastitis. As part of a laboratory specializing in antimicrobial technologies, her research involves the development of antimicrobial polymers with high bactericidal efficacy in the presence of milk and low toxicity profiles. The goal of this work is to provide safe, efficacious and sustainable alternatives for bovine mastitis, based on the ecological polyimidazolium platform. Han has conducted extensive in vitro evaluations to assess antimicrobial activity, biocompatibility and performance under conditions relevant to dairy production.

A doctoral candidate in clinical veterinary medicine, Takala’s Licentiate of Veterinary Medicine thesis focused on a comprehensive literature review on mastitis vaccines. Currently, she is working on a Streptococcus uberis mastitis research project. The project aims to improve the understanding of S. uberismastitis by investigating its morbidity, herd-level risk factors, treatment outcomes, effects on milk production, strain diversity and antimicrobial susceptibility. Ultimately, this research contributes to improved udder health and animal welfare, responsible antimicrobial use and economic and environmental sustainability of dairy production.

NMC: The Global Milk Quality Organization is a non-profit professional organization devoted to reducing mastitis and enhancing milk quality. NMC promotes research and provides science-based information to the dairy industry on udder health, milking management, milk quality, animal welfare and food safety. Founded in 1961, NMC has about 1,000 members in more than 40 countries throughout the world.