Julio Álvarez Sánchez
Qualifications:
PhD in Veterinary Sciences
Diploma de Estudios Avanzados
Degree in Veterinary Medicine (DVM)
Contact
Biography
After defending my PhD in 2008, focused on different aspects of the epidemiology of tuberculosis and paratuberculosis in Spain, I served as the head of the unit of neglected and emerging diseases in the VISAVET Health Surveillance Center, Spain, for two years, and then held two post-doctoral positions at the Spanish wildlife research institute (IREC) of Ciudad Real, Spain, and at the Research Institute Ramón y Cajal (IRYCIS) focusing on the epidemiology of bacterial zoonotic diseases in wildlife and humans. After this I joined the University of Minnesota in 2014, first as a research associate and then as an assistant professor, and came back to VISAVET in 2018 with a Ramon y Cajal postdoctoral contract. My research is currently focused on the application of quantitative approaches for the study of the epidemiology of infectous diseases in the human-animal-environmental interface.
I have co-authored over 100 papers in the peer-reviewed scientific literature, being first or last author in 36 of them; I have acted as PhD advisor of four students in the last 5 years, and currently act as scientific advisor of the European Laboratory for Bovine Tuberculosis, as well as a scientific reviewer for 12 indexed scientific journals.
I have co-authored over 100 papers in the peer-reviewed scientific literature, being first or last author in 36 of them; I have acted as PhD advisor of four students in the last 5 years, and currently act as scientific advisor of the European Laboratory for Bovine Tuberculosis, as well as a scientific reviewer for 12 indexed scientific journals.
Investigation

Research lines:
- Characterization of the emergence of foodborne pathogens subjected to surveillance and monitoring programs through quantitative epidemiology (EPIQ)
- Evaluation of the performance of diagnostic tests for diseases of importance in animal health and assessment of their application in the frame of control and surveillance programs (EPIQ)

Next scientific publications:
- Jimenez-Martin D., Cano-Terriza D., Risalde MA., Napp S., Alvarez J., Fernandez-Molera V., Moreno I., Infantes-Lorenzo JA. and Garcia-Bocanegra I.. Seroepidemiology of tuberculosis in sheep in southern Spain. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 215:105920. (A)
- Pozo P., Bezos J., Romero B., Grau A., Nacar J., Saez-Llorente JL., Minguez O. and Alvarez J.. Once bitten twice shy: Risk factors associated with bovine tuberculosis recurrence in Castilla y Leon, Spain. Research in Veterinary Science. (A)
- Hayer SS., Rovira A., Olsen K., Johnson TJ., Vannucci F., Rendahl A., Perez AM. and Alvarez J.. Prevalence and trend analysis of antimicrobial resistance in clinical Escherichia coli isolates collected from diseased pigs in the USA between 2006 and 2016. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases. (A)
Last scientific publications:
- Bakker D., Buza JJ., Alvarez J. and Kapur V.. Editorial: Advancing the development and implementation of regional, national tuberculosis control programs in livestock in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Frontiers in veterinary science, 10:1192091. 2023. (E)
- Tiwari SK., van der Putten BCL., Fuchs TM., Vinh TN., Bootsma M., Oldenkamp R., La Ragione RM., Matamoros S., Hoa NT., Berens C., Leng J., Alvarez J., Ferrandis- Vila M., Ritchie JM., Fruth A., Schwarz S., Dominguez L., Ugarte-Ruiz M., Bethe A., Huber C., Johanns V., Stamm I., Wieler LH., Ewers C., Fivian-Hughes A., Schmitt H., Menge C., Semmler T. and Schultsz C.. Genome-wide association reveals host-specific genomic traits in Escherichia coli. BMC Biology, 21(1):76. 2023. (A)
- Gómez-Buendía A., Pozo P., Picasso-Risso C., Branscum AJ., Perez A. and Alvarez J.. Accuracy of Tests for Diagnosis of Animal Tuberculosis: Moving Away from the Golden Calf (and towards Bayesian Models). Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 1-18. 2023. (A)
- Babu-Rajendran N., Arieti F., Mena-Benitez CA., Galia L., Tebon M., Alvarez J., Gladstone BP., Collineau L., de Angelis G., Duro R., Gaze W., Gopel S., Kanj SS., Kasbohrer A., Limmathurotsakul D., Lopez de Abechuco E., Mazzolini E., Mutters NT., Pezzani MD., Presterl E., Tacconelli E. and EPI-Net One Health.. EPI-Net One Health reporting guideline for antimicrobial consumption and resistance surveillance data: a Delphi approach. Health Policy, 26:100563. 2022. (A)
- Aerts M., Teng KT., Jaspers S. and Alvarez J.. A multicategory logit model detecting temporal changes in antimicrobial resistance. PLoS ONE, 17(12):e0277866. 2022. (A)

Last PhD thesis supervised:
- Pilar Pozo Piñol. Use of Epidemiological Analytic Tools and Molecular Characterization Techniques to Inform Bovine Tuberculosis Eradication Programs. 2020.(Doctorado Europeo)
- Mª Luisa de la Cruz Conty. Application of quantitative analytic methods for the epidemiological study of zoonotic diseases. 2018.(Doctorado Europeo)
- Teresa García-Seco Romero. Epidemiology of Q fever in domestic ruminants in the central zone of the Iberian peninsula. 2017.
- Adriana Cabal Rosel. Distribución, cuantificación y caracterización de genes de virulencia de Escherichia coli en reservorios animales, humanos y medioambientales. 2016.(Doctorado Internacional)
- Carmen Casal Comendador. Diagnosis of tuberculosis in ruminants and camelids: optimization of cell-based and humoral tests. 2016.(Laboratorios Ovejero Award, PhD Extraordinary Award, Doctorado Europeo)
Outreach

Last outreach publications:
- Lorente-Leal V., Pozo P., Bezos J., Alvarez J., Perez del Val B., Gortazar C., de Juan L. and Romero B.. La secuenciación masiva al servicio de la Tuberculosis. Actualidad redrisa.es, Red de Investigación en Sanidad Animal (RISA). 2023.
- Alvarez J.. Emergencia del virus de la viruela del mono: ¿Un problema de sanidad animal?. Profesión Veterinaria, 99:10-21, Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Veterinarios de Madrid. 2023.
- de Juan L., Alvarez J., Balseiro A., Bezos J., Bru G., Garrido J., Gonzalez S., Gortazar C., Martinez A., Perez B. and Romero B.. Tuberculosis. Conocida y compartida. Actualidad redrisa.es, Red de Investigación en Sanidad Animal (RISA). 2022.
- Alvarez J.. World Tuberculosis (TB) Day - 24th March 2022. Zoonoses and Public Health, Wiley. 2022.
- Gonzalez S., Lozano F., Alvarez J., Romero B., Bezos J. and de Juan L.. Tuberculosis in the new Animal Health Law. VISAVET Outreach Journal, VISAVET Health Surveillance Centre (U.C.M.). 2021.

Last communications:
- Alvarez J.. Gripe aviar en visones. Telediario 1. 2023. (TV interview)
- Alvarez J.. Gripe aviar en mamíferos. Telediario 2. 2023. (TV interview)
- Alvarez J.. Un experto aclara si podemos contagiarnos de gripe aviar si llegamos a consumir huevos contaminados. La Tarde. 2023. (Radio interview)
- Alvarez J.. Estudios epidemiológicos en la explotación/zona. Las encuestas epidemiológicas. Curso de formación en los aspectos teóricos, prácticos y de base legal en el diagnóstico de la tuberculosis bovina. 2023. (Oral communication)
- Alvarez J.. Estudios epidemiológicos en la explotación/zona. Las encuestas epidemiológicas. Curso de formación en los aspectos teóricos, prácticos y de base legal en el diagnóstico de la tuberculosis bovina. 2023. (Oral communication)