Johne’s disease is a bacterial disease of cattle and other ruminants for which there is no cure. It is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP), hence the other name for the disease Paratuberculosis.
Johne's Disease Programme Manager
After graduating from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of University College Dublin in 1995 Liam worked as a veterinary practitioner in a mixed practice in county Armagh. In 2001 he took up a post in Enniskillen campus at the College of Agriculture and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) teaching both agriculture and equine students at the college. The teaching role in the college was followed in the period from 2006 to 2013 by employment in the contingency planning unit for epizootic diseases of Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) veterinary service. This work focused mainly on the global emergence of avian influenza (AI) at that time, but also involved preparing for potential outbreaks of other epizootic diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease and swine fever.
In 2013 he took up a role in the veterinary epidemiology unit (VEU) of DAERA where his main focus was bovine tuberculosis research alongside epizootic disease duties and management of disease based data sets vital to production of quality assured epidemiological outputs.
Alongside a degree in veterinary medicine from University College Dublin Liam holds a PhD from Utrecht University on the epidemiological investigation of chronic bovine tuberculosis breakdowns in Northern Ireland, an MSc in Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health from University of London, a BSc (Hons) in Mathematical Science from the Open University, a BA in Computer Science from the Open University, a certificate in communications from Loughry College CAFRE and a certificate in Machine Learning Applications from the London School of Economics.
In September 2022 he joined Animal Health Ireland (AHI).
The link below to AHI’s Service Provider Portal is for use by trained Veterinary Practitioners, in the context of all TASAH-funded activities including BVD, Irish Johne’s Control Programme, CellCheck, Parasite Control, Pig HealthCheck, Poultry and IBR.
The following processors have committed to providing financial support for whole herd testing for each supplier who registers with the programme during Phase Two (2019-2022) of the Irish Johne’s Control Programme.
Arrabawn Co-op, Aurivo Co-op, Boherbue Co-op, Callan Co-op, Carbery Group, Centenary Thurles, Clona Dairy Products, Dairygold Co-op, Kerry Agribusiness, Lakeland Dairies, Mullinahone Co-op, North Cork Creameries, Strathroy Dairies Ltd, Tipperary Co-op, Tirlan.
Herd owners are reminded that financial support from milk processors for whole herd testing is dependent upon the completion of all elements of the Irish Johne’s Control Programme as described in the current technical manual.
