2005 Bruce W. Calnek Applied Poultry Research Achievement Award: Dave Halvorson

Dr. Dave Halvorson, professor and extension veterinarian, received the Bruce W. Calnek Applied Poultry Research Achievement Award at the American Veterinary Medical Association/American Association of Avian Pathologists (AAAP) meeting in July 2005.

The Calnek Award is given annually to a member of the AAAP who has made outstanding research contributions resulting in a measurable, practical impact on the control of one or more important diseases of poultry. Such contributions could include, but are not necessarily limited to, the development of a successful vaccine or other immunogen; the establishment of methods that resulted in a disease control or eradication program; finding successful chemotheraputic approaches; or discovering the etiology, pathogenesis, or immune mechanisms that laid the foundation to a successful disease control approach.

Dr. Halvorson was honored for his pioneering work on the control of avian influenza, including the judicious use of AI vaccines. Through his research and extension service over the past 20-plus years, Dr. Halvorson has been responsible for describing the transmission of avian influenza viruses from wild ducks to domestic turkeys and for developing a control strategy for dealing with these low pathogenic AI viruses in turkey flocks.  He has championed the use of vaccines to control low path AI in turkeys and has employed controlled marketing of convalescent turkey flocks as a means to reduce losses and help farmers recover economically from avian influenza. This approach utilizes enhanced biosecurity and is, as Dr. Halvorson says, "a responsible response."

His concepts of avian influenza control have been used successfully in Minnesota by the turkey industry and have gained momentum and acceptance around the world as an effective low- cost alternative to depopulation and destruction of infected flocks.

The Bruce W. Calnek Applied Poultry Research Achievement Award was first presented in 2004 as a result of a generous gift from Dr. Bruce Calnek of Cornell University.  Dr. Calnek has been a pioneer in the field of Marek’s disease research, and a prime contributor to our understanding of the pathogenesis of this disease and its control through the use of effective vaccines.