Egladison João Campos

Brazil

Professor Egladison João Campos was born in 1935, in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. In 1961, he obtained his graduation in Veterinary Medicine at the School of Veterinary from the Minas Gerais Federal University. In 1962, he was invited to participate in a course on ‘Social Sciences Applied to Rural Communities’ for a duration of nine months.

In December 1962, he was appointed assistant professor at the Department of Animal Husbandry, at the Veterinary School, responsible for teaching, research, and extension work on Poultry Production. The Brazilian poultry industrial expansion was just starting, and many short courses on poultry production for poultry and extension people around the country to promote poultry production were under his responsibility until 1970, when he was invited for a scholarship sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation for M.S. and PhD degrees at Texas A&M University. After returning in May 1973, he was Director of The Research Nucleous, responsible for the publication of ‘The Archives of the Veterinary School’. From 1974 to 1978, he was head of the Poultry Husbandry Department. In 1979, he was named associate professor, and in 1983, full professor. He taught many courses on ‘Poultry Production’ at the undergraduate level, mainly dealing with the interactions between stress, environment, and nutrition.

During the period of 1973 – 1998, he supervised 48 master’s theses and six PhD students. He published 168 scientific papers and three books on poultry production and hatcheries. In 1992, he joined the ‘People to People Citizen Ambassador Program’ institution to provide extension work to Eastern Europe. He retired in 1992, but continued to teach until 1998. He served on the editorial board for various scientific journals and acted as an examiner for many postgraduate student theses and dissertations. He has received many awards for his work on research, extension, and contribution to the development of poultry production. He was classified as Research 1-A from the ‘National Research Council’ until his retirement. He provided specialist consultancy to many poultry companies in Brazil, South Central, and North America.

Peter Horn

Hungary

Peter Horn earned his MS degree in agricultural sciences (1965) and PhD degree (1971) in poultry science in Gödöllő, Agricultural University. He founded the Department of Poultry, Small Animal, and Pig Science in Kaposvár in 1972 as an associate professor. In 1986, he was named full professor and was elected a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1985.

He held numerous courses, mostly at postgraduate levels in poultry science and animal science in Kaposvár and other universities. Twenty-one Hungarian and foreign students completed their PhD degrees under his guidance. His research with his colleagues focused on genotype-environment interactions in layers, broilers, and turkeys, and the expression of heterosis in different environments (1972-1985). They were the first to publish genetic and phenotypic correlations between traits in pigeons, and measured inbreeding depression in meat-type and homing pigeons.

In 1990, Peter established a unique digital imaging centre with computer (CT) and magnetic imaging tomographs (MRI) conducting research regarding in vivo measurement of age, sex, and genotype-dependent body composition changes with chicken broilers, turkeys, laying hens, and pigeons. Dynamic MRI and CT methods were developed to measure cardiovascular performance of turkeys and fatty liver development in geese in vivo. He and his group cooperated closely with the players of the poultry industry since 1972. Over $7 million of national and international R&D support and grants have been awarded for their work over four decades.

Peter, along with his colleagues, published more than 110 papers in referred journals and over 90 in other journals. He was editor and author of many chapters of eight major books and university textbooks. Since 1974, he presented 15 papers at WPSA World Congresses and 13 papers at European Congresses. He was an invited speaker at more than 40 international conferences outside Hungary and over 70 in Hungary since 1968.

Peter served on editorial boards of nine journals, including World’s Poultry Science Journal, Livestock Science, Archives of Animal Breeding, and Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics. He has been the president of the Hungarian Branch of the WPSA since 1976, president of the Hungarian Animal Breeders Association since 1993, and a member of other international and national scientific associations. He has received 29 national and international awards honouring research, teaching, and fruitful cooperation activities with the industry. Three universities honoured him with the Doctor Honoris Causa: Martin Luther Univ. Halle-Wittenberg (2002), University of Debrecen (2003), University of Gödöllő (2006).

Gendalal Jain

India

After his graduation in poultry science in 1966, Dr Gendalal Jain was appointed Assistant Professor at Udaipur University in India. After working for two years, he continued his studies, leading to a PhD in Animal Breeding in 1971 from the University of British Columbia. Back in India, he rejoined Udaipur University where he taught various subjects. Later, in 1974, he joined as Director of the Central Poultry Breeding Farm, Govt. of India, where he successfully conducted the breeding programme for improving production in WHL and RIR chickens. During this period, he also established a Random Sample Test Centre for both broilers and layers.

In 1980, Dr Jain joined Venkateshwara Hatcheries Pvt. Ltd, Pune, as Chief Geneticist and was instrumental in planning and executing the breeding programme for both broilers and layers. Realizing that genotype-environment interaction is important, he designed and structured the Research programme to select and breed the chicken in the same environment and husbandry practices under which they have to perform at the farmers’ places in India.

Dr Jain also realised that the relative economic merit for different traits of broilers and layers is different for western countries compared to the Indian market. Therefore, the economic weightage given to different traits of economic importance in his selection index was different from those used by geneticists in the Western world.

This tailoring of the breeding programme to the needs and requirements of Indian poultry farmers helped Dr Jain and his team to develop products that perform better than the imported ones under Indian environmental and market conditions. The layer strain, BV300, developed by Dr Jain and his team, has been the market leader for the last 30 years, holding over 85% of the total layer sales in India. Similarly, the Vencobb strain of broilers has dominated the market with a share of 65% to 70%, now reaching over 75%.

Dr Jain received several prestigious awards for his work, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from B.V. Rao Poultry Research Foundation in 2001, the M.S. Swaminathan Award in 2005, and the National Award for R&D efforts in Industry from the Government of India.

Kiyoshi Shimada

Japan

Dr Shimada obtained his B.S. from Gifu University, his M.S. from Rutgers University as a Fulbright scholarship holder, and his PhD from Nagoya University. He joined the faculty of Aichi Medical School as an assistant professor in 1974, then the faculty of agricultural sciences of Nagoya University as an assistant professor in 1976, an associate professor in 1979, and full professor in 1991.

He was named Director of Avian Bioresearch Center (2007-2008), and after his retirement, he served as a designated professor at Nagoya University for a year. In 2009, he was invited as a full professor by Seoul National University, Korea, for a special project of the World Class University and continues his teaching and research. He has taught numerous courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels, including animal physiology, poultry reproduction, genetics, and avian biotechnology.

Dr Shimada has published approximately 300 publications, of which more than 100 are in refereed scientific journals in the field of poultry reproduction, which were influenced by his early career working at Goto Hatchery Incorporation, the leading hatchery company in Japan. He has contributed to the training of numerous postdoctoral fellows, PhD, and Masters students from various countries.

He has served as Editor-in-Chief of Journal Poultry Science, gaining impact factor for the journal. He has been an active member of WPSA and held various roles, including Secretary and President of the Japan Branch. For his research achievements, he received the Research Award from the Japan Poultry Science Association (1989) and the Award of the Association of Japanese Agricultural Scientific Societies (2009).

Nuhad J. Daghir

Libanon

Dr N.J. Daghir received his BSc from the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 1957 and was immediately appointed by AUB to provide agricultural extension services to the central and northern Beqa’a region in Lebanon, to where he introduced commercial poultry production. He earned both his MSc and PhD degrees from Iowa State University in 1959 and 1962, respectively. In 1962, he helped establish a Lebanese branch of the World Poultry Science Association and was president of that branch until 1984.

During the same year, he started his teaching and research career at the AUB. In 1967, he was promoted to associate professor and in 1975 to full professor. He has served as an adviser for over 40 MSc graduate students, many of whom have later received PhD degrees from US universities and are now occupying key positions all over the world.

Dr Daghir is a member of several professional and honorary organizations, and has traveled widely in over 60 different countries of Asia, Europe, Africa, and America. He has served as a consultant to poultry companies in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Kuwait, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, and participated in lecture tours on poultry production in these countries. Dr Daghir has served on special assignments for several organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the American Soybean Association, and the Kuwait Institute of Scientific Research. He also served on many international, regional, and national committees such as the International Standing Committee of WPSA on Nutrient Requirements and the Committee of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (Commission VI, Committee 8) on nutrition of poultry.

Dr Daghir has had over 100 articles published in scientific journals and the proceedings of international meetings, as well as several chapters in books and compendia. The second edition of his book Poultry Production in Hot Climates was published by CABI in 2008. His research has covered a wide range of subjects, such as factors affecting vitamin requirements of poultry, utilization of agricultural by-products in poultry feeds, nutrient requirements of poultry at high-temperature conditions, seeds of desert plants as potential sources of feed and food, and plant protein supplements of importance to hot regions. His research has received funding from the US National Institutes of Health, the International Development Research Centre of Canada, and the Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research.

He has served as Chairman of the Animal Science Department, Associate Dean and Dean of his Faculty, and, for two years, as team leader of the American University of Beirut technical mission to Saudi Arabia. From September 1986 to June 1992, he served as Director of Technical Services at the Shaver Poultry Breeding Company in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Professor of Poultry Science at the United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, UAE, from 1992 to 1996, and as Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences at the American University of Beirut from 1996 to 2006. He is at present Dean Emeritus at AUB.