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)

Last scientific publications:
- Singh-Hayer S., Casanova-Higes A., Paladino E., Elnekave E., Nault A., Johnson T., Bender J., Perez A. and Alvarez J.. Global Distribution of Extended Spectrum Cephalosporin and Carbapenem Resistance and Associated Resistance Markers in Escherichia coli of Swine Origin - A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in Microbiology, 13:853810. 2022. (A)
- Singh-Hayer S., Casanova-Higes A., Paladino E., Elnekave E., Nault A., Johnson T., Bender J., Perez A. and Alvarez J.. Global Distribution of Fluoroquinolone and Colistin Resistance and Associated Resistance Markers in Escherichia coli of Swine Origin - A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in Microbiology, 13:834793. 2022. (A)
- Samper-Cativiela C., Bernabé Diéguez B., Trigo de Roza F., Ugarte-Ruiz M., Elnekave E., Lim S., Hernandez M., Abad D., Collado S., Saez-Llorente JL., De Frutos C., Aguero M., Moreno MA., Escudero JA. and Alvarez J.. Genomic characterization of multidrug-resistant Salmonella serovar Kentucky ST198 isolated in poultry flocks in Spain (2011-2017). Microbial Genomics, 8(3). 2022. (A)
- Ortega J., Roy A., Díaz-Castillo A., de Juan L., Romero B., Saez-Llorente JL., Dominguez L., Regal P., Infantes-Lorenzo JA., Alvarez J. and Bezos J.. Effect of the topical administration of corticosteroids and tuberculin pre-sensitisation on the diagnosis of tuberculosis in goats. BMC Veterinary Research, 18(1):58. 2022. (A)
- Lorente-Leal V., Farrell D., Romero B., Alvarez J., de Juan L. and Gordon SV.. Performance and Agreement Between WGS Variant Calling Pipelines Used for Bovine Tuberculosis Control: Toward International Standardization. Frontiers in veterinary science, 8:780018. 2021. (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:
- 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.
- Minguez O., Saez JL., Alvarez J. and Munoz-Mendoza M.. Situación de la tuberculosis animal: mundo, Europa, Península Ibérica. Legislación que aplica. 2:31-40, Tuberculosis animal: una aproximación desde la perspectiva de la Ciencia y la Administración. Ed. 1. Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación. 2020.
- Lorente-Leal V., Pozo P., Alvarez J., Romero B. and de Juan L.. Avances en investigación. Epidemiología. Caracterización molecular y secuenciación masiva. 4.1.1:54-57, Tuberculosis animal: una aproximación desde la perspectiva de la Ciencia y la Administración. Ed. 1. Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación. 2020.

Last communications:
- 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. 2022. (Oral communication)
- Lopez-Chavarrias V., Wieczorek K., Osek J., Dieguez B., Torre-Fuentes L., Ugarte-Ruiz M., Moreno MA., Dominguez L. and Alvarez J.. Epidemiological comparison of campylobacter jejuni isolates from Poland and Spain combining MLST and antimicrobial resistance whole genome analyses. One Health EJP Annual Scientific Meeting. 2022. (Poster communication)
- Alvarez J.. Zoonosis de transmisión alimentaria y resistencias a antimicrobianos. Centro VISAVET-UCM: cómo trabajar en un laboratorio de alta seguridad biológica. XXI Semana de la Ciencia Madri+d. 2021. (Oral communication)
- Alvarez J.. Evaluation of the use of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) test for the purpose of granting and retaining an official tuberculosis free herd status. EU-RL for Bovine Tuberculosis Workshop. 2021. (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. 2021. (Online communication)