Anne Deckert

Assistant Professor

Ontario Veterinary College, Department of Population Medicine

DVM, MSc, PhD (Guelph)

adeckert@uoguelph.ca
Office: CRLE Rm.207A
519-824-4120

Profile

Dr. Anne Deckert is an Assistant Professor in Swine Health Management in the Department of Population Medicine at the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC), University of Guelph. A lifelong advocate for food animal health, she graduated from OVC’s Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program in 1990 and began her career in private food animal practice in southwestern Ontario. Her pursuit of further expertise led her to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she completed a Master of Science degree in veterinary science. After returning to Canada, Dr. Deckert taught swine health management at OVC and joined the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) as a veterinary epidemiologist with the Canadian Integrated Program for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance (CIPARS)—a role she held from the program’s inception in 2002. Concurrently, she earned her PhD from the University of Guelph in 2012, focusing on antimicrobial resistance. Dr. Deckert has also consulted internationally for organizations including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), working on antimicrobial use and resistance surveillance projects in Central Asia. Rooted in her early experiences growing up on a pig farm, Anne’s professional focus has remained firmly on improving swine health, production and sustainable veterinary practices in Canada and globally.

Research Interests

Dr. Deckert’s research integrates epidemiology, antimicrobial resistance, and livestock production to address challenges in animal and public health. Her work supports national surveillance efforts, One Health strategies, and industry sustainability.

Key Research Areas

Swine Health and Production

• Managing hyper-prolific sows and sow mortality
• Assessing the impact of climate change on pig production systems
• Enhancing productivity through disease management and animal welfare

Antimicrobial Resistance and Use

• Exploring links between antimicrobial use and resistance in livestock
• Investigating Campylobacter resistance in multiple commodities

One Health and Global Surveillance

• Control of Taenia solium in developing countries
• Supporting FAO/WHO projects on antimicrobial use and resistance in Central Asia
• Knowledge translation strategies for public health policy and veterinary practice

Teaching

Course Coordinator
POPM*4230 – Animal Health

DVM Course Instruction
VETM*3400 – Health Management
VETM*3460 – Theriogenology

Phase IV Clinical Rotations
Swine Health Management – Food Animal stream
Swine Health Management – Rural Clinical Practice stream
Swine Production Elective

Graduate Students

Reshat Jeshari- PhD

Selected Publications

• Bosman AL, Deckert AE, Carson CA, Poljak Z, Reid-Smith RJ, McEwen SA. Antimicrobial use in lactating sows, piglets, nursery, and grower-finisher pigs on swine farms in Ontario, Canada during 2017 and 2018. Porcine Health Manag. 2022 Apr 28;8(1):17. doi: 10.1186/s40813-022-00259-w. PMID: 35484556; PMCID: PMC9047262.
• Léger DF, Anderson MEC, Bédard FD, Burns T, Carson CA, Deckert AE, Gow SP, James C, Li XZ, Ott M, Agunos A. Canadian Collaboration to Identify a Minimum Dataset for Antimicrobial Use Surveillance for Policy and Intervention Development across Food Animal Sectors. Antibiotics (Basel). 2022 Feb 10;11(2):226. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics11020226. PMID: 35203828; PMCID: PMC8868246.
• Locas A, Brassard J, Rose-Martel M, Lambert D, Green A, Deckert A, Illing M. Comprehensive Risk Pathway of the Qualitative Likelihood of Human Exposure to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 from the Food Chain. J Food Prot. 2022 Jan 1;85(1):85-97. doi: 10.4315/JFP-21-218. PMID: 34499732; PMCID: PMC9906280.
• Bosman AL, Deckert AE, Carson CA, Reid-Smith RJ, Poljak Z, McEwen SA. Choosing which metrics to use when reporting antimicrobial use information to veterinarians in the Canadian swine industry. Can Vet J. 2021 May;62(5):453-460. PMID: 33967283; PMCID: PMC8048206.
• Wilhelm B, Leblanc D, Leger D, Gow S, Deckert A, Pearl DL, Friendship R, Rajić A, Houde A, McEwen S. Farm-level prevalence and risk factors for detection of hepatitis E virus, porcine enteric calicivirus, and rotavirus in Canadian finisher pigs. Can J Vet Res. 2016 Apr;80(2):95-105. PMID: 27127336; PMCID: PMC4836045.
• Deckert AE, Reid-Smith RJ, Tamblyn SE, Morrell L, Seliske P, Jamieson FB, Irwin R, Dewey CE, Boerlin P, McEwen SA. Antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial use associated with laboratory-confirmed cases of Campylobacter infection in two health units in Ontario. Can J Infect Dis Med Microbiol. 2013 Spring;24(1):e16-21. doi: 10.1155/2013/176494. PMID: 24421795; PMCID: PMC3630032.
• Deckert AE, Taboada E, Mutschall S, Poljak Z, Reid-Smith RJ, Tamblyn S, Morrell L, Seliske P, Jamieson FB, Irwin R, Dewey CE, Boerlin P, McEwen SA. Molecular epidemiology of Campylobacter jejuni human and chicken isolates from two health units. Foodborne Pathog Dis. 2014 Feb;11(2):150-5. doi: 10.1089/fpd.2013.1610. Epub 2013 Nov 12. PMID: 24219173.
  Weese JS, Rousseau J, Deckert A, Gow S, Reid-Smith RJ. Clostridium difficile and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus shedding by slaughter-age pigs. BMC Vet Res. 2011 Jul 26;7:41. doi: 10.1186/1746-6148-7-41. PMID: 21791057; PMCID: PMC3162498.
• Varga C, Rajić A, McFall ME, Reid-Smith RJ, Deckert AE, Checkley SL, McEwen SA. Associations between reported on-farm antimicrobial use practices and observed antimicrobial resistance in generic fecal Escherichia coli isolated from Alberta finishing swine farms. Prev Vet Med. 2009 Mar 1;88(3):185-92. doi: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2008.10.002. Epub 2008 Nov 28. PMID: 19041147.
• Rajić A, McFall ME, Deckert AE, Reid-Smith R, Manninen K, Poppe C, Dewey CE, McEwen SA. Antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella isolated from finishing swine and the environment of 60 Alberta swine farms. Vet Microbiol. 2004 Dec 9;104(3-4):189-96. doi: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2004.09.013. PMID: 15564027.

Find Deckert's full list of publications on Google Scholar.