Prof. Dr Dušan Palić, D.V.M., MVSc, Ph.D., Dipl. ECAAH, CertAqV

D. V. M. (1997), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Belgrade University; MVSc (2002), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Belgrade University; Ph. D. (2005), Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine; Dipl. ECAAH (2013), European College of Aquatic Animal Health; CertAqV (2013) Certified Aquatic Veterinarian by World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association.

Professor and Chair of Fish Diseases and Fisheries Biology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich.

Professor Palić comes from a long line of veterinarians and educators, being the third generation Professor of Veterinary Medicine. He received D.V.M. and MVSc degrees from Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Belgrade, Serbia, and Ph.D. from Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, where he worked with CFSPH/Jim Roth as assistant professor until he accepted invitation to LMU Munich and took over the Chair for Fish Diseases in 2012.

Dušan is a founding member, certified aquatic veterinarian (CertAqV), and Past President of World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association (www.wavma.org). He is a founding diplomate and former Vice-President of European College of Aquatic Animal Health (ECAAH, www.ecaah.org), and the Director of the International Aquatic Veterinary Biosecurity Consortium (IAVBC, www.iavbc.org). As senior expert in aquatic animal health for Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations, Prof. Palić has spent significant time in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia working on preparation of the National Aquatic Animal Health Strategy and Action Plan for KSA. Dušan was a representative of academia and organized aquatic veterinary profession in the FishMedPlus Coalition that was established by Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE) upon request from European Medicine Agency (EMA), with the goal to improve access and availability of veterinary medical products, including vaccines, to the E.U. aquaculture industry. He is an expert member in WG3 Farm Management for preparation of “Partnership for Animal Health and Welfare (PAHW)”, for Horizon Europe. Currently he is an aquaculture expert on World Veterinary Association project for the development of essential medicines lists. On the global veterinary education front, Prof. Palić is member of the project team that is developing a model curriculum for day-1 competency in aquatic veterinary medicine. His daily work as Chair for Fish Diseases at LMU Munich includes research, teaching, diagnostic, and extension services.

As world aquaculture is steadily growing and overtaking terrestrial protein production, it is becoming clear that sustainable and safe use of water resources must be achieved to support The Global Goals and provide safe and affordable food for increased human population. What recent history taught us is that such global expansion of aquaculture is prone to catastrophic crashes due to emerging and re-emerging diseases. Overuse of antibiotics with and without veterinary supervision poses a serious problem to human health as multi-drug resistance is increasing. Lack of educated veterinary workforce to support industry growth is further widening the service/demand gap. All of the above comes together in one health approach, in which major pillar is identified to be disease prevention, control and possible eradication through biosecurity approaches that are in accordance with international standards and national legislations. As one of the invited speakers, Dušan will provide insight on current disease challenges in aquaculture, and discuss how aquatic veterinary biosecurity could contribute to sustainable and safe increase in aquatic ecosystems resources use for aquaculture.