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Adriano Vatta

Associate Professor of Parasitology

 

avatta2@lsu.edu

 

Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

Adriano F. Vatta graduated as a veterinarian from the University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, South Africa in 1998 and completed a Masters in Veterinary Sciences at the same university in 2001.  In 2008, he obtained a PhD in Rural Resource Management from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.  For both higher degrees, Adriano evaluated ways in which to manage gastrointestinal parasites (especially Haemonchus contortus) in goats and sheep and improve small-scale goat farming through selective anthelmintic treatment, nutritional, and educational approaches.  This work led to collaboration with US researchers for the validation of the FAMACHA© system in the United States.  This group went on to form the Southern Consortium for Small Ruminant Parasite Control, the forerunner to the American Consortium for Small Ruminant Parasite Control.  At the end of 2008, Adriano moved to St. Kitts, West Indies, to teach veterinary parasitology at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine.  In 2011, he undertook research at the University of Georgia in the laboratories of Dr. Ray Kaplan and Dr. Adrian Wolstenholme to investigate the anthelmintic resistance status of sheep nematodes through larval development assays and molecular tests.  He also conducted investigations into the interaction of host immune mechanisms and ivermectin in the killing of heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis) larvae.  Adriano joined Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine in December 2020 after eight years of working in the veterinary pharmaceutical industry at Zoetis where he focused on antiparasitics drug research and drug development in both livestock and companion animals.  Adriano has been a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists (Parasitology Specialty) since 2017.

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