DESPITE not having any agricultural background when growing up Emily Glass now plays a vital role in biosecurity surveillance and emergency preparedness, protecting the State's agricultural industry.
The 31-year-old veterinarian works for the Department of Agriculture and Food (DAFWA) and develops important biosecurity surveillance policies around poultry and livestock markets, as well as public health.
"A lot of work I do is to prevent imported disease basically to ensure the health and welfare of poultry and the representation of livestock from Western Australia," Emily said.
Growing up in Perth she never thought she would be involved with the agricultural industry or working for DAFWA.
Now she gets out to the regions on a regular basis, particularly to poultry farms, and enjoys interacting with everyone involved in agriculture.
Poultry is also an area that wasn't originally on her radar.
"The whole poultry side of things was a new area for me when I started this job a couple of years ago.
"It's an area I had never considered but now I am involved and it is really interesting, especially in avian influenza in the future."
After completing her veterinary degree at Murdoch University in Perth, Emily worked in small animal practices, mainly in metropolitan Perth, as well as for the RSPCA, before exploring overseas opportunities.
She gained international experience in both policy and on-the-ground roles when working in New Zealand and Argentina.
Working as an on-plant vet at a New Zealand export abattoir increased Emily's understanding of how vital biosecurity was to protecting public health and market access for the livestock industries.
She said rigorous biosecurity systems that monitored for signs of disease were particularly important in WA, where up to 80pc of livestock and livestock products were exported.
Emily said data from laboratory testing that proved livestock was free of diseases was provided as 'proof of freedom' to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
She said they were always looking for and investigating signs of disease in livestock that could have an impact on domestic and export markets.
"I was fortunate to gain first-hand experience of the operations of the OIE in Argentina in 2014, where an internship provided a great insight into the variety of animal health and welfare challenges of the countries within the region.
"It also gave me a chance to refine my Spanish language skills as all the work was done in Spanish - and that was a challenge."
She said effective biosecurity was crucial in preventing emergency diseases of poultry.
"I have been working closely with WA industry to minimise the likelihood and impact of emergency diseases of poultry, such as avian influenza and Newcastle disease," Emily said.
Last year a Royalties for Regions Boosting Biosecurity Defences grant allowed Emily to travel to America to learn from its response to a recent large-scale outbreak of avian influenza.
"The US outbreak demonstrated the importance of both industry and government having effective biosecurity systems and response plans in place to ensure outbreaks that do occur are managed effectively so that public health is protected and the costs are minimised," she said.
Emily also co-ordinates the investigation and reporting of wildlife diseases in WA for Wildlife Health Australia so that any emerging disease trends or changes in distribution of diseases can be identified.
As part of her surveillance and emergency preparedness role, she recently joined a group of Australian veterinarians and animal health technicians at a foot-and-mouth training course in Nepal, run by the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) and organised by the federal Department of Agriculture and Water Resources.
"Unlike Australia, which is free from FMD and has huge market access advantages as a result, Nepal suffers from frequent outbreaks that cause large losses in productivity," Emily said.
"During the course we visited rural areas, examining livestock and collecting samples to diagnose FMD.
"It was the first time I had seen FMD first-hand and it was an invaluable opportunity to gain practical experience in recognising and diagnosing the disease and investigating how it spreads.
"It is vital that everyone working with livestock here in WA is aware of the disease and its signs, and reports immediately to a veterinarian if they see signs that could be FMD.
"Key signs of FMD include drooling, lameness, lying down and blisters around the feet, tongue, nose, in the mouth or on teats."
The Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics and Sciences has estimated that an outbreak of FMD would cost up to $52 billion over 10 years if it was not reported early.
Emily said the sooner the signs of FMD were reported to a vet, the sooner it could be controlled to minimise its devastating impact on the livestock industries and the whole Australian economy.
She said her role was not easy to explain to a lay person.
"I tell people I develop policy and procedures around animal biosecurity, with an emphasis on poultry," she said. I also manage disease preparedness - again developing policy and procedures to prevent the incursions of exotic diseases, and all the responses around that if we do have an incursion."
