Summer/Fall 2013 PDF - University of Minnesota College of ...

ALUMNI NEWS
ALUMNI SUCCESS STORY
Dr. Barbara Knust:
making the transition
to public health
In 2012, epidemiologist Dr. Barbara
Knust was called to investigate
an outbreak of lymphocytic
choriomeningitis in the United States
after the virus was discovered at a mouse
breeding facility, where workers had
become ill. The facility had shipped mice
that were potentially infected with the
virus to 21 states.
Soon after beginning work on that
outbreak, Knust’s team received word that
there was an Ebola outbreak in Uganda
and help was needed there.
Dr. Barbara Knust: on the job for the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention
“We were in the midst of dealing
with a large outbreak of lymphocytic
choriomeningitis stateside, and almost
immediately we had to turn our attention
to the Ebola outbreak in Uganda, the first
outbreak there in several years,” says
Knust, an epidemiologist with the Viral
Special Pathogens Branch of the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
and a former veterinary public health
fellow at the Center for Animal Health and
Food Safety (CAHFS). CDC scientists
are on the front line of public health,
conducting epidemiologic investigations,
research, and disease surveillance
worldwide.
Due to the severity of both outbreaks, the
team received additional assistance to
continue to investigate the lymphocytic
choriomeningitis outbreak in the United
States, and then boarded a plane with
an ABC news crew bound for Uganda.
While the team was in Uganda, another
Ebola outbreak was found nearby in the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
“It was a very exciting time,” says Knust,
who spent more than two months in Africa
collecting data. “I got back in the United
States just in time to begin working on a
hanta virus outbreak in Yosemite National
Park.” Two more filovirus outbreaks were
then detected in Uganda, and the team
went back out to respond again.
A couple of years after obtaining her
DVM from Michigan State University,
Knust pursued a master’s in public health
(MPH) from the University of Minnesota
while completing a residency in
veterinary public heath through CAHFS.
The residency provided Knust handson
l earning experience that helped her
transition from private veterinary practice,
where she worked directly with livestock
producers and pet owners, to becoming
an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer
at the CDC, studying the epidemiology of
high-containment, deadly viruses.
“I was hired as a veterinary public health
fellow at CAHFS for 30 hours a week,
which allowed me to take MPH courses
at the same time,” says Knust. “The
residency helped me gain experience in
various aspects of research and public
health and taught me how to apply those
experiences in the public health field.”
During her residency, Knust worked on a
project with Dr. Scott Wells, director of
academic programs at CAHFS.
“On my very first day, he called me
into his office and asked me if I wanted
to work on a project involving bovine
tuberculosis,” Knust recalls. “It was very
exciting. I wasn’t sure what I was getting
into.”
Work on the project required her to travel
to farms in northwestern Minnesota in the
dead of winter with a U.S. Department of
Agriculture biologist. The team completed
environmental assessments of the farms,
looking at how agricultural practices
might lead to cross-species transmission of
bovine tuberculosis.
“It was a great experience,” says Knust.
“We obtained information that the state
then used to reduce deer and cattle
interaction. I got experience setting up
the project, and it was gratifying that the
Minnesota Board of Animal Health and
Department of Natural Resources were
able to use the information.”
Knust’s veterinary public health residency
prepared her to think broadly across
species and populations. Today, instead
of helping individual animals like she did
when she was in private practice, Knust
works to protect humans and animals from
viral diseases that have the potential to
wipe out entire populations.
34 Profiles Summer/Fall 2013