IAFP Announces 2012 Travel Award Recipients

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Des Moines, Iowa  - The International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) will present the Travel Award for State or Local Health or State Agricultural Department Employees to the following individuals at IAFP 2012, July 22-25, in Providence, Rhode Island. Sponsored through a generous contribution to IAFP's Foundation by Marler Clark, LLP, PS, this award will provide funding to enable recipients to travel to IAFP 2012.

Jeanne Garbarino is a Principal Registered Environmental Health Specialist for the City of Vineland Health Department in New Jersey. She has participated with the NJ Department of Health on many projects, including serving on their Best Practices Committee, and currently serves on the Rule Revision Committee with the State Department of Health. Ms. Garbarino was awarded the 2011 Certificate of Merit form the National Environmental Health Association in appreciation for her service to the State of New Jersey.

Amie Minor is an Infectious Research Scientist for the West Virginia Department of Agriculture in Charleston. She also serves as the Biosafety/Biosecurity Officer for the WVDA Guthrie Center Laboratories. She is actively involved with coordinating foodborne outbreak response in West Virginia. She is also responsible for the implementation of analysis for multiple select agents in foods at the WVDA laboratories, as well as training laboratory staff in the detection of these agents. Mrs. Minor currently serves on several course advisory groups which develop online and hands-on laboratory courses for federal, state, and local food safety scientists.

Timothy Jenkins is an Environmental Health District Supervisor for the City of Minneapolis in Minnesota. He is a Registered Sanitarian, Certified Food Manager (CFM) instructor/proctor, and is also trained in emergency preparedness. Mr. Jenkins is a member of the Homegrown Minneapolis Food Council, working with the local foods and urban agriculture, helping build teams and partnerships to engage the community in developing strategies to solve environmental health challenges.   

Chris Malota is the Senior Microbiologist for the Consumer Microbiology Lab of the Texas Department of State Health Services in Austin. He works in conjunction with the regulatory agencies and the state epidemiologists within Texas to coordinate sample receipt, sample results, and potential responses to positive food and environmental samples identified in the lab.  Mr. Malota has been part of several national and local foodborne outbreak investigations. He has served on the Standardized Worksheet Subcommittee of the Partnership for Food Protection Laboratory Task Group and has assisted the FDA Milk Program with the annual FDA Milk Laboratory Evaluation of Dairy Products Training Program.

Brian Sauders is a Senior Bacteriologist with the New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets in Albany, working in the Food Laboratory Microbiology Section, where he is responsible for the department's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) PulseNet program activities. Dr. Sauders works closely with inspection staff in the agency, along with the New York State Department of Health and other agencies regarding outbreak investigations. He has more than 20 years of experience in food microbiology and food safety and has served as an Emerging Infectious Disease (EID) Fellow in the CDC/APHL EID Fellowship Program at the New York State Department of Health and on the CDC-funded NYS Emerging Infections Program.