Food Protection Trends - November/December 2017 - 469

Our Experiences (continued)

Being able to attend IAFP 2017 in Tampa, Florida was a great honor as a graduate
student. The IAFP Student Travel Scholarship afforded me the opportunity to not
only attend the Annual Meeting, but allowed me to network with professionals in
the area of food safety. As a young professional, this was one of the most valuable
aspects of attending the meeting.Through networking at the meeting, I was able to
better understand the vast amount of career opportunities available within food safety
specifically.
I enjoyed sitting in on various professional development group (PDG) meetings.
I attended the Retail and Foodservice PDG with my IAFP mentor for the conference,
Hilary Thesmar. Dr. Thesmar was a great resource for me, and I enjoyed her guidance.
I am so thankful to IAFP for matching me with such a great mentor with whom I can look
up to and admire.
My experiences at this meeting can't be summarized without mention of the Exhibit
Hall! I greatly enjoyed roaming the Exhibit Hall floor and seeing some of the new
technologies available. The "160°F is Good" booth was probably my favorite. It was
Dorothy Dupree
both interactive and educational. I will definitely be promoting the "160°F is Good"
University of Georgia
campaign when discussing food safety.
Athens, Georgia
In addition, if it were not for attending IAFP 2017, I would not have known about
the great work the STEC CAP Team at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln is doing.
My experiences at this meeting are some that I will look back on for many years. I look forward to attending future
IAFP Annual Meetings and getting more involved in a PDG. I am immensely grateful to the IAFP Foundation for providing
me with the opportunity to attend this meeting.

This was my first year attending IAFP's Annual Meeting and, after having such
an amazing experience, I plan on attending next year. I was truly impressed with
the integration of growers, both traditional small-scale farmers and urban agriculture
entrepreneurs, with researchers, government, and industry. Food safety involves the
inclusion of all partners, and IAFP does a stellar job of bringing everyone to the table.
There was also ample opportunity to discuss improving food safety in the developing
world, from the Africa Association for Food Protection Affiliate Meeting to learning about
how the World Health Organization is teaching food safety and urban agriculture sideby-side in Cambodia to simultaneously alleviate malnutrition and diarrheal disease.
There were many discussions and presentations focusing on the safety and
considerations of urban agriculture, including a lack of regulations regarding prior land
use for urban farms. I also thought it was interesting to discuss how different states
can contribute to best practices as agriculture evolves and adapts. For example, many
urban farms around the world utilize rain barrels, which can carry their own unique food
safety risks. Hawaii can contribute best practices, since rainwater is a large source of
Hillary Kelbick
irrigation water in that state.
One opportunity I enjoyed was seeing presentations and posters from my CONSERVE
University of Maryland
colleagues from across the country and around the world. My dissertation advisor and
College Park, Maryland
my Israeli collaborator gave an oral presentation together, so it was great to not only
watch them present in tandem but also be among other researchers and practitioners
from around the world who engaged with our research ideas. I'm excited to come back next year and share more about
my findings from Israel!
As someone with a background in epidemiology and culture-based research techniques who is learning more about
sequencing, I was excited to see many interesting presentations and discussions on how and why to use "omics" in
research and practice.
Additionally, thanks to the service of my mentors, Mr. Peter Kennedy and Dr. Paula Cray, I was able to gain insight
into careers in water quality and food safety from the perspectives of industry, academia, and government.
See you all next year in Salt Lake City!

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