CORE - Advisory Council

Advisory Council Chair

David Gnad

Dr. David Gnad, DVM, MS, Dipl. ABVP (Emeritus)
CEO, Heritage Vet Partners

Dr. Gnad graduated from Kansas State University in 1996. He entered private practice in Kansas before returning to faculty position at KSU-CVM. While at KSU, his clinical and research efforts focused on beef cattle production medicine. At the time of his departure from KSU, he was the Head of Agricultural Practices. After returning to private practice, he was the managing partner for Nebraska Vet Services before founding Heritage Vet Partners where he now serves as CEO.

Advisory Council Members

alfonso clavijoDr. Alfonso Clavijo, DVM, PhD
NBAF Director

Dr. Clavijo earned a doctoral degree in veterinary microbiology/virology from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada in 1995 and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from National University in Bogota, Columbia in 1986. Prior to his appointment at NBAF, Dr. Clavijo served as laboratory executive director of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) National Centre for Animal Disease, which operates laboratories in Winnipeg and Lethbridge. As director, he oversaw the administration of diagnostic services, related technology development, and research to detect and prevent transboundary, emerging and zoonotic animal diseases. During his professional career, Dr. Clavijo has taken several important assignments including, senior science advisor for the Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases (IIAD) at Texas A&M University; advisor for Diagnosis, Surveillance and Control of Zoonotic and Emerging Diseases at the Pan American Health Organization; associate director for scientific programs at the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (TVMDL); and technical advisor in foot-and-mouth disease for the Pan American Center for Foot-and-Mouth Disease (PANAFTOSA).

Dr. Clavijo was appointed as the NBAF director in October 2019.

Brandon DepenbushDr. Brandon Depenbusch, PhD
Vice President of Cattle Feeding, Irsik & Doll Feed Services, Inc.

Brandon Depenbusch is the Vice President of Cattle Feeding for Irsik & Doll Feed Services, Inc. Since graduating from Kansas State University in 2009, he has spent 15 years in the cattle feeding industry. His primary role is to support the overall cattle-feeding operations of his company. Over the years he has participated in many large-scale research studies in the production setting. His mission is clear, “To build beef and build people”. “There’s nothing more rewarding than creating a nutritious, safe, and wholesome beef product and helping people discover their leadership capacity.”

Kelly Lechtenberg

Dr. Kelly Lechtenberg, DVM, PhD
Founder and President of Midwest Veterinary Services

Dr. Lechtenberg received his DVM degree in 1987, followed by a PhD (Nutrition/Anaerobic Microbiology) in 1988. Kelly spends his time helping assure that the meat offered to US consumers is safe, wholesome and produced in a fashion that is considerate of the needs of animals entrusted to his care. After several years in mixed animal practice and beef cattle consultation, he has focused efforts on operating a contract research organization. He and his team have been instrumental in the development of dozens of vaccines and pharmaceutical designed to improve the health and well-being of beef and dairy cattle, swine and poultry.

Elizabeth Lund

Dr. Elizabeth M. Lund, DVM, MPH, PhD
President, DataDogs, LLC

Dr. Lund is a companion animal epidemiologist with over 25 years of professional experience leveraging digital pet health data to generate evidence and insights for organizational strategy and success. Over her career she has worked in diverse sectors of animal health, including private equine practice, academia, corporate veterinary practice and public health. Currently, Liz serves as President of DataDogs, LLC, a big data consulting company. In her most recent role at NVA Compassion-First as VP, Veterinary Informatics, Liz lead data-driven organizational initiatives to optimize patient outcomes, medical quality, and operational efficiency. Other past professional roles include Senior Director-Research for Banfield Pet Hospital, a division of Mars Petcare and Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota, College of Veterinary Medicine.

Justin Welsh photo

Dr. Justin Welsh, DVM
Executive Director, Livestock Technical Services, Merck Animal Health

Dr. Justin Welsh is the lead for the Merck Animal Health livestock Technical Services team. His team is responsible for supporting the commercial teams in the cattle, swine and poultry industries in the US market. This team of veterinarians and nutritionists are located throughout the US. They focus on veterinary and producer education, as well as organizing and implementing research related to product life cycles and their uses in the field. Dr. Welsh earned his undergraduate degree in animal science from the University of Nebraska and completed his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University, College of Veterinary Medicine.

CORE very much appreciates the service of Advisory Council members, both current and former (Drs. Steve Hodes, Ralph Richardson, Bob Smith, Bruce Wagner and Marnie Mellencamp).