I am Dr. Wilson James Bertu, born on 4th May, 1966 in Mangun, Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State of Nigeria and living in Nigeria. I am a Veterinary Surgeon by profession and a Chief Veterinary Research Officer, working at National Veterinary Research Institute, (NVRI) Vom, Nigeria, a foremost Research and Veterinary Vaccine Producing Institute. I attended LGED primary School Gwakshesh and Nakam Memorial Secondary School Panyam both in Mangu LGC of Plateau State where I obtained My Primary and Secondary School Certificates respectively. I was admitted at the Faculty of Veterinary medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State where I graduated with a degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) in 1995. I went back to Ahmadu Bello University for postgraduate studies and obtained a Masters Degree in 2009 and a doctorate (PhD) degree in 2014 respectively in the area of Veterinary Public health and Preventive Medicine.  

I first worked in a Private Veterinary Hospital as a Clinician from 1996 to 1997and then as a Branch Manager in an Agroveterinary consulting company dealing with Veterinary Vaccines and drugs from 1997 to 2001 both in Jos, Capital of Plateau State.

I joined the services of National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI), Vom Plateau as a Veterinary Research Officer II in 2001. I rose through the ranks to my currently position of Chief Veterinary Research Officer. Since I joined NVRI Vom till date, I have been working in Bacteriology which has a Vaccine Production arm and a Research arm both working in synergy for the production and validation of all the bacterial vaccines produced in the Institute. My research work and postgraduate studies have been on brucellosis, isolation and characterization of Brucella organisms and Brucella S19 vaccine validation. I have sixteen years research experience and 8 years as the head of Brucella laboratory in my Institute. My future research direction is to explore the possibility of producing a DNA- based Brucella vaccine in the Institute which will overcome the shortcomings associated with the life attenuated S19 vaccine which we have been producing.

The following are some of the relevant trainings I have attended:

1. Laboratory Training Course on Brucella Bacteriology, Brucella antigen production, Brucella storage, Classical Typing and Molecular Typing by Bruce-ladder multiplex PCR held at Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain from 14th April – 5th May, 2013,

2. Laboratory Training on Brucella Bacteriology, Classical Typing and Molecular Typing by Bruce-ladder multiplex PCR held at Centro De Investigacion y Technologia  (CITA) Agroalimentaria Zaragoza, Spain, from 6th -19th May, 2013.

3. A workshop on “An integrated approach to controlling brucellosis in Africa, organized by US Department for Agriculture, (USDA), US Agency for International Development(USAID) and  International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Held at Addis Ababa campus of the International Livestock Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 29th January to 31st January, 2013.

4. One Health Next Scientific Generation (OH – NEXTGEN) train the trainers workshop organized by the European Commission in collaboration with the School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana from 8th January to 6th February, 2015.

5. National Training in Laboratory Quality Control organized by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Pan-African Programme for the Control of Epizootics (PACE) held at National Vet . Res. Inst., Vom, Plateau State from 16th-18th Jan 2003.

I have about 29 publications in both international peer review Journals and national Journals.