Veterinary Educational Development
 

Marnie Brennan

Director of the Centre for Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine and Assistant Professor in Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences

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Biography

Marnie graduated with a veterinary science degree from Murdoch University, Australia in 1998 and spent several years working in mixed practice in Australia and the UK. She worked for the State Veterinary Service during the foot and mouth disease outbreak in the UK from 2001-2002, and then in peacetime from 2002-2004. Between 2005 and 2008 Marnie conducted a PhD in veterinary epidemiology entitled 'Contacts between cattle farms and their role in pathogen transmission' at the University of Liverpool. She worked temporarily for the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) before joining the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science at The University of Nottingham in February 2009.

Expertise Summary

Marnie is Associate Professor in Epidemiology and Director of the Centre for Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine. She is currently responsible for co-convening the epidemiology embedded module.

Teaching Summary

Marnie is involved in a variety of teaching across most years of the veterinary undergraduate course. Her main teaching role relates to the use of clinical epidemiological tools in the field of… read more

Research Summary

Marnie is primarily involved in the development of and research carried out within the Centre for Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine (CEVM). The research of the Centre focuses on assisting… read more

Selected Publications

Marnie is involved in a variety of teaching across most years of the veterinary undergraduate course. Her main teaching role relates to the use of clinical epidemiological tools in the field of evidence-based veterinary medicine, and general epidemiological concepts in relation to conducting research and understanding the 'science' behind research.

Current Research

Marnie is primarily involved in the development of and research carried out within the Centre for Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine (CEVM). The research of the Centre focuses on assisting practitioners to generate research questions relevant to them and to clinical practice, and to help disseminate the results from relevant research back to the veterinary profession.

Both within the CEVM and external to this, Marnie's main topic of research is preventive medicine, specifically biosecurity and vaccination.

Past Research

Marnie's PhD research examined the direct and indirect contacts that occurred between cattle farms in a region. This was done by conducting interview-based questionnaires with cattle farmers within a selected region of England. These contacts were examined both descriptively and using contact network analysis, and hypothesized on the effect of such contacts on disease transmission. This included looking at factors that might affect the transmission likelihood of such contacts, such as any biosecurity carried out by cattle producers and their attitudes towards such preventive measures. In addition, the role of these contact routes in pathogen transmission was investigated by comparing known contacts with the genetic similarities or differences of Cryptosporidium parasites isolated from calves on the farms.

Future Research

Marnie is interested in research relating to evidence-based veterinary medicine in the veterinary profession, including synthesis of evidence for clinical decision-making, and the use of good study design approaches in research.

She is also interested in research relating to the use of disease prevention and control measures on farms and in other animal systems, and the application of sociological and other types of qualitative research methods in veterinary science.

Veterinary Educational Development Research Theme

The University of Nottingham
School of Veterinary Medicine and Science
Sutton Bonington Campus, Leicestershire, LE12 5RD


telephone: +44 (0) 115 951 6116
email: Email our Research Theme Leader