ESVCN Oral Abstract Presenters Bio

ESVCN-O-1
Britta Dobenecker

Study at Vetschool in Hannover, Germany (Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover)
Doctoral thesis at the vetschool in Hannover (Physiological Chemistry) and LMU Munich (Animal Nutrition and Dietetics)
National specialist for Animal Nutrition and Dietetics, approved specialist for nutrition consultation (companion animals)
EBVS® European Specialist in Veterinary and Comparative Nutrition"

ESVCN-O-2
Geraldine Blanchard

Géraldine BLANCHARD
Clinical Nutrition Specialist in Vetivia veterinary clinic in Biarritz (France)
CEO of Animal Nutrition Expertise SARL, Arbonne, France
CEO of Vet Nutrition Coach SAS, Bidart, France Géraldine BLANCHARD graduated DVM from the Vet School of Alfort (France) in 1994, interested in Equine Medicine and Nutrition.First oriented to an Academic carrier, she passed the French academic abilitation (agregation) in 1999, her PhD on Lipoprotein metabolism and Hepatic Lipidosis in Cats, and became Diplomate of the European College of Veterinary and Comparative Nutrition (ECVCN) in 2002.Until 2006, she developed Clinical Nutrition at the Vet School of Alfort. In 2007, She left to Australia where a sabbatical turned into a position of Senior Lecturer  (University of Queensland, Brisbane).
Back to France, she launched in 2008 an online nutrition service www.cuisine-a-crocs.com, available for veterinarians. www.cuisine-a-crocs.com now offers balanced tailored recipes for dogs and cats in more than 140 situations (healthy, or suffering from one disease or more) from Geraldine's logarithms (including home-made-diets, mixed diets or commercial pet food, and treats), in French and English. In order to balance dogs' and cats' mixed diets (half commercial and half home cooked) and home cooked diets for dogs and cats, she launched a range of mineral vitamin supplements, Vit’i5, now distributed in France and Europe, and Australia (locally produced) since 2021 through a website www.viti5.com.au, to offer Vit’i5 and recipes to Australian dogs and cats. ***Géraldine also runs a specialized consultation of Clinical Nutrition, in a private practice in Biarritz.Géraldine is author and co-author of several books and book chapters, and particupated to the training of 3 residents of her College who became Dipl. ECVCN."

ESVCN-O-3
Giulia Pignataro

Born in L’Aquila, Italy, in 1987 she graduates in veterinary medicine at the University of Pisa in 2014 with an experimental thesis "Follow-up of chronic enteropathies in dogs: 150 cases", subsequently published by Italian Academic Editions. In 2016  obtained the first level Master in Food Quality Management at the University of Pisa. In her working years as a freelancer, she worked in different veterinary clinics and hospitals dealing with internal medicine with attention to gastroenterology and nutrition of pets, now has a veterinary clinic in L'Aquila, Italy. In 2021 obtained the PhD  in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Teramo with an experimental project on intestinal microbiota of dogs, her internal tutor is Alessandro Gramenzi, Professor in animal nutrition. From April to November 2018 did an internship in ProDigest company in Ghent, Belgium, developing an in vitro model to simulate the intestinal ecosystem of the dog, lately presented in ECVIM 2019 Congress as a poster. From January to March 2020, she spends a period in Texas A&M University in the GI Lab. From December 2021 is a post-doctoral researcher in University of Teramo, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine  and also obtained the second level Master in Small Animals nutrition. 8 publications in the assets. She’s International Business Development Manager for NBF Lanes, Milan.

ESVCN-O-4
Benedetta Bela

I'm Benedetta Belà, a research fellow at the Department of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Teramo (Italy). I have a master's degree in Biology specializing in nutrition and functional foods from the Department of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine of the University of Camerino. I have always been interested in the study of the intestinal microflora of men and subsequently of dogs and cats, in fact, my experimental thesis evaluated the effects of a high-fat diet on the intestinal microbiota of rats. After graduating I obtained the title of PhD in Veterinary Medical Sciences at the Veterinary Medicine department of the University of Teramo. During my PhD I was able to carry out several studies/analyis on the effects of probiotics, prebiotics and nutraceuticals on the intestinal microbiota of dogs and cats, also evaluating the production of short-chain fatty acids; these studies have been the subject of various scientific publications and participation in veterinary conferences. After the PhD I won a research grant for research activities in the context of the project: "Experimental study for isolation and characterization of one or more new probiotic strains for use as an additive in dog and/or cat's feed" and and the following year I won the competition for a research grant in dog and cat nutrition at the Department of veterinary Medicine of the University of Teramo.