Jessica Witt
Epidemiologist
Jessica is a veterinary epidemiologist who joined the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) in April 2022. She graduated from Colorado State University, USA with a BS in Animal Sciences (2006), then went on to study veterinary medicine at the University of Glasgow (2011). She worked for 2 years at the Scottish Centre for Production Animal Health and Food Safety based at the University of Glasgow, then decided to pursue a career outside of clinical practice. Jessica worked on a research project at the University of Warwick (2014-2016) to design and test a program of lameness control measures for sheep farmers in the UK, which led to the successful proposal for her funded PhD project. Completed in 2021, her PhD work focused on analysing the spatial and temporal variations in ovine footrot, as well as the impact of environmental conditions, climate, and farm management practices on these variations. Following her PhD, Jessica worked with the University of Liverpool HORN project to evaluate the spatial and temporal patterns of anthrax outbreaks in Ethiopian livestock. Her current work at Cefas focuses on aquatic animal health and climate resilience, particularly in aquaculture and mariculture systems.
Email: jessica.witt@cefas.gov.uk
