The Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences recently hosted the first inaugural lectures since the Institute’s inception in 2020. Staff and students gathered at our Leahurst campus to celebrate the achievements of Professors George Oikonomou and PJ Noble.
Professor George Oikonomou is a Professor of Cattle Health and Welfare in the Department of Livestock and One Health and his lecture was entitled ‘Cows, hooves, genes, bug, and farmers: a journey in cattle health and welfare’. His research aims to improve the welfare of dairy cattle, focusing on lameness, and of the sustainability of dairy farms.
George studied Veterinary Medicine at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and during his PhD studied he investigated the genetics of energy balance and fertility in Holstein cows. Having managed a 600-cow dairy herd in Greece, George worked as a research associate at Cornell University, USA, on research projects including dairy cattle lameness, mastitis, and reproductive diseases. He joined the University of Liverpool in 2013 and was promoted to Chair in 2018.
Professor Oikonomou said: “It was a great to share my experiences working with cattle in Greece, the US, and the UK. I am proud of our cattle lameness research and the impact it may have and was glad to be given the chance to present some of this work to colleagues, family, and friends.”
Professor PJ Noble is a Professor of Small Animal Internal Medicine in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Science and joined the University of Liverpool in 2012 and was awarded his personal chair in 2024. His lecture was entitled ‘Ever-increasing circles: through cell signals, clinical syndromes, to AI and data-driven disease surveillance’. Using AI and machine learning, his research focuses on automating information extraction from large volumes of veterinary clinical notes to enable greater understanding of companion animal health and detect potential disease outbreaks.
Since 2008, Professor Noble has been a lead investigator for the Small Animal Surveillance Network (SAVSNET). SAVSNET is a growing database with 15 million clinical notes from over 400 veterinary premises across the UK. As the use of AI has expanded, PJ has ensured SAVSNET, as well as its sister projects that use equine and farm animal data, have integrated the use and development of large language models. Professor Noble has also written a suite of tools used by undergraduate and postgraduate students for text-mining projects using SAVSNET data.
Professor Noble said: “I have had a fantastic time over the last 30 years working with excellent colleagues both as a clinician and increasingly using A.I. to enable my data-science research and teaching. It was lovely to be allowed to share some of the background to how I got here and plans for the future with treasured friends, family and colleagues.“