Dr. Kim Dodd presents an overview of her research and the diagnostic testing work done at the MSU Veterinary Diagnostic lab to the MSU Board of Trustees on Dec. 17, 2021.

Dr. Kim Dodd joined the College of Veterinary Medicine in September 2021 as Director of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and Associate Professor in the department of Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation. She comes to MSU from USDA, where she served as director of the Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (FADDL) on Plum Island, NY, an international reference laboratory for the highest-consequence animal diseases, including foot-and-mouth disease and African swine fever.

Prior to FADDL, she was the Senior Scientist at Metabiota, a company dedicated to enhancing laboratory and surveillance capacity globally to prepare, prevent and respond to disease outbreaks. Kim worked in Central and West Africa to facilitate collaborations with international agencies and African governments, and served as Program Director for the CDC Global Health Security Agenda. She also served as a guest researcher in the Viral Special Pathogens Branch at CDC, where she led studies to better understand how hemorrhagic fever viruses including Ebola, Lassa, and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, cause severe disease and death – with a goal of better producing better methods to prevent and respond to outbreaks of these diseases. She developed and patented a novel vaccine for Rift Valley fever virus. During and after her time at CDC, she played an active role in CDC field laboratory response to filovirus outbreaks, most recently for the West Africa Ebola outbreak in 2014.

Kim received her DVM and PhD in comparative pathology from the University of California-Davis. She has been a member of the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services’ Science Committee and is recognized as an international expert in infectious disease research. She earned awards for her work as a scientist and a leader, including the UC Davis Young Alumna award; the USDA Undersecretary Award for her efforts to develop a national animal vaccine stockpile; the USDA Administrator award for leading efforts to protect the US from an outbreak of African swine fever; and the U.S. State Department Meritorious Service Award for her work in West Africa.

Her professional interests include development of rapid detection methods for emerging and divergent viruses.