Originally from Brazil, Vitória Campêlo came to Canada to study animal health and now devotes her work to a very concrete challenge: understanding why certain biosecurity measures, recognized as essential, remain difficult to implement on Canadian dairy farms.
By Mélanie Lagacé
As a child, Vitória Campêlo was afraid of cows. Nothing suggested that she would one day devote several years of her life to biosecurity in dairy production. Yet her path led her from Brazil to Canadian farms, at the heart of a crucial animal health issue: preventing diseases before they spread.
A passion born through contact with the agricultural world
Originally from Brasília, Brazil’s capital, Vitória grew up in an environment where agriculture was a natural part of everyday life. Her father, a government employee, provided agronomic advice to small producers. In addition, a neighbor who happened to be a veterinarian worked closely with family farms played a key role in sparking her early interest in the animal world.
“He worked a lot with dairy cows. That was my first contact with this environment,” she recalls.
This curiosity led her to pursue studies in veterinary medicine at the University of Brasília. Throughout her training, she explored various specialties: small and large animals, diagnostics and health, without knowing which direction her career would take. The real turning point came during an internship at a government diagnostic laboratory.
At this reference centre, she helped analyze diseases with significant impacts on the country’s economy. She then discovered another dimension to her discipline: an approach focused not only on individual care, but also on prevention and population health.
“I wanted to understand how diseases spread and find ways to act before they become a problem.”
Gradually, epidemiology emerged as an obvious choice. This discipline, at the intersection of scientific data and field realities, allows her to explore the mechanisms behind outbreaks and the ways to prevent them.
A new beginning in Québec
In 2019, while she’s volunteering at the World Small Animal Veterinary Association congress in Toronto, a meeting reshaped the course of her journey. Brazilian professor Paulo Steagall, from the Université de Montréal, encouraged her to pursue graduate studies in Québec. He also introduced her to Simon Dufour, a specialist in dairy herd health, who would later become her research supervisor.
She then undertook a distance learning master’s degree at the Université de Montréal before moving to Québec in 2021 to pursue her doctoral studies. This life change, however, came with many challenges. She needs to adapt to a new culture, manage the demands of an intensive Ph.D. program, and learn French, both for daily life, scientific writing, and communication with producers.
“Doing a Ph.D. in another language and in a host country requires a lot of adaptation,” she notes.
Settled in Saint-Hyacinthe, near the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, she gradually found her bearings through francization courses and the support of the international student community. This period became a true lesson in resilience.
“This experience taught me to accept mistakes as part of the process and to celebrate small victories.”
Today, she hopes to continue her career in Québec in a role related to animal health and dairy production.
Understanding the barriers to the implementation of the measures
Vitória Campêlo’s doctoral project is part of the work of the Industrial Research Chair on Biosecurity in Dairy Production at the Université de Montréal, under the supervision of Simon Dufour and with the support of co-supervisors Cécile Aenishaenslin and Manon Racicot.
Her objective is clear: to better understand biosecurity practices on Canadian dairy farms and the factors that influence their implementation. Biosecurity refers to the measures used to limit the introduction and spread of diseases within herds. In theory, many recommendations seem relatively simple. In practice, however, the reality is far more complex.
To understand this dynamic better, her work relies in particular on data from the ProAction®* program, mandatory in Canada since 2019. Based on questionnaires collected on farms in Québec, Ontario, and Alberta, her team assessed the level of integration of various biosecurity measures.
But Vitória did not want to stop at the numbers. To truly capture what influences decision-making on the ground, she combined statistical analyses, machine learning models, and interviews with producers.
“Preventing diseases is often more effective and less costly than treating them, but some strategies remain difficult to integrate into farm operations, I didn’t just want to measure adoption rates. I also wanted to understand why certain practices are not implemented.”
Vitória Campêlo
The results paint a nuanced picture. Some approaches, particularly those related to hygiene and the management of sick animals, are widely adopted on farms. Others, such as quarantining new animals, remain more difficult to put in place. On the ground, the obstacles are very tangible.
“Dairy producers often want to apply these recommendations, but they have to deal with constraints related to time, costs, space, or labour,” she summarizes.
The interviews also highlighted a central element: the relationship of trust between producers and veterinarians. When recommendations are perceived as useful, well adapted, and firmly rooted in the producers’ context, they are more likely to be followed. They also revealed that certain practices are difficult to integrate into an already heavy workload.
“We need to support producers and work with them to find realistic solutions,” she insists.
A practical solution-oriented approach
Beyond scientific results, Vitória Campêlo’s work aims to better adapt prevention strategies to the conditions of dairy farms.
During her Ph.D., she also became actively involved in knowledge transfer to producers and the public, notably through meetings with farm operators, outreach activities organized by the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, and an interview broadcast on Radio-Canada (French only).
As she completes her Ph.D. and prepares for her thesis defense, she hopes to continue building bridges between science and the agricultural sector. Her ambition remains the same: to improve herd health through practical solutions adapted to the realities of Canadian dairy farms, particularly those in Québec.
* ProAction®: a mandatory Canadian quality assurance program in the dairy sector, implemented by Dairy Farmers of Canada. It governs on-farm practices across six areas: milk quality, food safety, animal welfare, traceability, biosecurity, and the environment.
To learn more about the project:
- Consult the profile of the Biosecurity Research Chair
- Visit the Chair’s website
- Read the profile of Faustin Farison, also a student under the Biosecurity Chair
