When highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, first appeared in U.S. dairy cattle, it shocked the scientific community. The virus, long associated with birds, had crossed a species barrier no one anticipated. In Michigan, however, the response framework was already underway.

In the inner circle of that response was Kimberly Dodd, who now serves as dean of the Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine, or CVM, but at the time was the director of the MSU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, or VDL. As news broke in early 2024 of dairy cattle testing positive for the virus, the VDL team was already two years into an unprecedented nationwide response to HPAI in domestic poultry and wild birds. Long-standing partnerships with state and federal agencies in Michigan had been strengthened by shared experience, which supported a unified local response.

“When this began, we weren’t just responding to an outbreak,” Dodd said. “We were watching history unfold in real time. There was no playbook for this. The virus was in a place it had never been before.”