Cassidy Rist, DVM, MPH, DACVPM

Cassidy Rist joined the veterinary college as an assistant professor of practice in the Department of Population Health Sciences in August 2016, and was promoted to associate professor in 2023. A veterinary epidemiologist with a background in One Health, infectious diseases, health economics and emergency preparedness, Dr. Rist supports programs and initiatives in the Center for Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine.

Prior to joining the college, Dr. Rist was a veterinary medical officer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service where she served as Interim Emergency Coordinator for Maryland and Delaware. She earned a doctor of veterinary medicine degree from the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, and a master of public health degree in global epidemiology from Emory University in Atlanta.

Dr. Rist worked in small animal practice for seven years before transitioning to public veterinary practice. She completed a two-year Fellowship with the One Health Office at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, where she played a primary role in the development of the One Health Zoonotic Disease Prioritization Tool. The Tool was designed to promote collaborative decision-making between human and animal health sectors, and is now used by CDC at international sites under the Global Health Security Agenda to assist countries in developing a list of zoonotic disease priorities for surveillance, research and response activities. Dr. Rist also completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Harvard Medical School in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, where her researched focused on the economic and health impacts of animal disease on rural populations in Madagascar.

Dr. Rist is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine. She is a member of the United States Animal Health Association, the Alliance for Veterinary Public Health Educators, and the American Public Health Association.

Master of Public Health, Global Epidemiology, 2014
Emory University
Atlanta, GA

Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Magna Cum Laude, 2005
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL

• American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, 2018

2016–present
Assistant Professor
Population Health Sciences
Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA

2015–2016
Veterinary Medical Officer
United States Department of Agriculture 
Richmond, VA

2014–2016
Contractor
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, GA

2014–2015
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Emory University
Atlanta, GA
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA

2012–2014
Research Fellow
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, GA

2011–2012
Veterinarian, General Practice
Trenton Animal Hospital
Trenton, FL

2009–2011
Veterinarian, Emergency and Critical Care
Affiliated Pet Emergency Services
Gainesville, FL

2007–2009
Veterinarian, Emergency and Critical Care
Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Center
Santa Fe, NM

2006–2007
Intern, Small Animal Surgery
Wheat Ridge Veterinary Specialists
Wheat Ridge, CO

2005–2006
Intern, Small Animal Emergency and Critical Care
New England Animal Medical Center
West Bridgewater, MA

• Investigating the use of endectocides in livestock as a novel malaria vector control tool
• Economic evaluation of One Health programs and policies
• Building domestic and international collaborative programs at the intersection of human, animal and environmental health
• Training veterinary students for diverse careers in the public sector

1. Chaccour, C., Casellas, A., Hammann, F., Ruiz-Castillo, P., Nicolas, P., Montaña, J., ... Rist, C. Maia, M. & Rabinovich, N. R. (2023). BOHEMIA: Broad One Health Endectocide-based Malaria Intervention in Africa—a phase III cluster-randomized, open-label, clinical trial to study the safety and efficacy of ivermectin mass drug administration to reduce malaria transmission in two African settings. Trials, 24(1), 1-16.
2. Marathe, A., Shi, R., Mendez-Lopez, A., Hu, Z., Lewis, B., Rabinovich, R., ... & Rist, C. (2021). Potential impact of 5 years of ivermectin mass drug administration on malaria outcomes in high burden countries. BMJ global health, 6(11), e006424.
3. Ruiz-Castillo, P., Rist, C., Rabinovich, R., & Chaccour, C. (2021). Insecticide-treated livestock: a potential One Health approach to malaria control in Africa. Trends in parasitology.
4. Ivermectin Roadmappers. (2020). A Roadmap for the Development of Ivermectin as a Complementary Malaria Vector Control Tool. The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, 102(2s), 3-24. Contributed as one of the “roadmappers”.
5. Errecaborde KM, Rist C, Travis D, Ragan V, Potter T, Pekol A, Pelican K, Dutcher T (2019). Evaluating One Health: the role of team science in multisectoral collaboration. OIE Scientific and Technical Review, Vol. 38(1). doi:10.20506/rst.issue.38.1.2937
6. Imbahale, S. S., Lopez, J. M., Brew, J., Paaijmans, K., Rist, C., & Chaccour, C. (2019). Mapping the potential use of endectocide-treated cattle to reduce malaria transmission. Scientific reports, 9(1), 5826. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-42356-x
7. Rist CL, Garchitorena A, Ngonghala CN, Gillespie TR, Bonds MH (2015). The burden of livestock parasites on the poor. Trends in Parasitology, 31(11):p527-530. doi:10.1016/j.pt.2015.09.005
8. Rist CL, Ngonghala CN, Garchitorena A, Brook CE, Ramananjato RH, Miller AC, Randrianarivelojosia M, Wright PC, Gillespie TR, Bonds MH (2015). Modeling the burden of poultry disease on the rural poor in Madagascar. One Health, vol 1:p60-65. doi:10.1016/j.onehlt.2015.10.002
9. Rist CL, Arriola CS, Rubin C (2014). Prioritizing zoonoses: A proposed One Health tool for collaborative decision-making. PLoS ONE 9(10): e109986. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0109986

1. Maryland Veterinary Medical Association annual meeting, 2022: “Tickborne diseases of companion animals.”
2. American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Annual meeting, 2022: “Food safety and economic implications of ivermectin mass drug administration in swine – a One Health perspective on the future of malaria vector control.”
3. Center for Emerging, Zoonotic, and Arthropod-borne Pathogens, Virginia Tech, 2021. Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series: “A One Health approach to malaria: Will we do the fandango?”
4. USDA Economic Research Service and Farm Foundation, 2018. Meeting on Challenges to Changing Antibiotic Use in Food Animal Production: Economics, Data and Policy: “Impact of FDA Veterinary Feed Directive Policies on Practicing Veterinarians: Results of a Qualitative Survey.”
5. American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Annual meeting, 2018: “Malaria Ivermectin Roadmap Symposium, Enhancing Impact from One Health Strategies.”
6. Potomac Regional Veterinary Conference, 2017: Small Animal and Public Health joint section presentation: “A Comparative Perspective on Lyme Disease.”
7. International Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics, 2015: “A coupled epidemiological-economic model for measuring the burden of poultry disease on the rural poor in Madagascar.”
8. Education and Research Center for Occupational Safety and Health Seminar Series at the Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2015: "Reaching National Consensus for Disease Control: Prioritization at the Human, Animal and Environmental Health Interface."
9. Division Seminar at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, 2014: “Lemurs In the Backyard, Chickens In the Kitchen: Finding One Health Solutions for Madagascar.”