Dr Kylie Hewson
Dr Kylie Hewson has received a 2022 Australian Biosecurity Award in the Industry category.
Dr Hewson has a long-standing, well-established career working in the fields of animal health management and biosecurity. Dr Hewson’s network of contacts and background in biotechnological and virological training allows her to pull together national and international key stakeholders to identify opportunities and fill knowledge gaps in animal health, biosecurity and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Her guiding principle is that biosecurity and animal health issues in one sector have implications for all sectors, and that positive change can only be achieved through collective effort.
Dr Hewson was appointed Deputy Executive Director of the Australian Chicken Meat Federation (ACMF) in 2015. In this role, she led industry and cross-sectoral initiatives in the areas of biosecurity, animal health, AMR, food safety and new technologies.
In 2018 Dr Hewson led the first major review of the industry’s biosecurity manual. This comprehensive 3-year process involved assessing the scientific basis for each recommendation and initiating several industry projects to fill knowledge gaps. She also supported the duck and egg industries to improve their biosecurity manuals through this process, and to identify improvements to biosecurity across all major poultry industries.
Dr Hewson supported the development and implementation of the livestock industry’s Biosecurity Benchmark tool with Animal Health Australia. This tool is now used by all livestock industry signatories to the Emergency Animal Disease Response Agreement (EADRA).
Since 2015 Dr Hewson has developed, implemented and coordinated the ACMF’s biosecurity initiatives, with a particular focus on antimicrobial stewardship (AMS). Beyond the Australian chicken meat industry, Dr Hewson received grants from industry and government to support AMR surveillance across other livestock industries, and to develop tools and training materials for producers and veterinarians. She has also initiated and driven numerous AMR and AMS committees, projects, plans and strategies, including the Animal Industries Antimicrobial Stewardship RD&E Strategy, and been a key contributor to many others – including the Australian Government’s National Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy – 2020 and Beyond.
Dr Hewson established a Poultry Industry Biosecurity Committee in response to the avian influenza outbreak in Victoria in 2020. The committee brings together industry representatives to build the skills and knowledge required to implement meaningful biosecurity initiatives within their industry and meet their EADRA obligations.
In March 2021 Dr Hewson became Chair of the Animalplan Steering Committee. The committee was established to guide the implementation of Animalplan 2022 to 2027, a national 5-year action plan for terrestrial animal health that focuses on biosecurity.
Dr Hewson was nominated by Dr Narelle Clegg from the Biosecurity Animal Division, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
Watch a video about Dr Hewson’s work
Introduction
This is the accessible text transcript of a 2022 Australian Biosecurity Awards winner video featuring Dr Kylie Hewson.
Transcript
Hi, I’m Dr Kylie Hewson and working in the chicken meat industry, I’ve seen firsthand the really high levels of biosecurity in place through the whole supply chain, from breeding and production through to the processing plant. But what I learned really early on in my career is that it doesn’t matter how well you protect your own operations, if your neighbour isn’t taking biosecurity seriously, it can undermine all of your efforts.
So because of this, I’ve spent a lot of time and energy bringing together activities, people and resources from across the livestock sectors and various levels of government to address shared priorities. With this focus in mind, I helped establish things like the Australian Animal Industries Antimicrobial Stewardship Research and Development Strategy, which has grown from a community of practice of five people to a community of hundreds, and is now supported by a national conference, a secretariat and cash co-contributions from the major livestock sectors.
I also initiated a poultry industry biosecurity committee, which brings together the representatives from the main poultry sectors in Australia, to identify areas where we can work together more effectively when it comes to animal health and biosecurity.
And I also chaired the steering committee that oversees implementation of Animalplan, which is Australia’s first national plan for the health of livestock in Australia. This committee brings together those in government and industry that collectively have a network that captures the whole of the animal biosecurity system. So we can work together better to improve things like emergency animal disease preparedness and response, and improve things like diagnostics and surveillance capabilities.
So while all of these activities aren’t shiny or nor are they new or necessarily even exciting, the success of our whole biosecurity system relies on us making sure that we can work together collectively to create the solid foundations that are needed for all sector-specific activities to succeed.
It’s humbling to have my efforts recognised with this award, and this recognition will continue to motivate me to keep finding ways for all of us to work together for a stronger biosecurity system.
Photos
