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For pioneering studies on Influenza A Viruses in swine, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist Amy L. Baker is the agency's Distinguished Senior Research Scientist of the Year for 2024. Baker, a research veterinary medical officer at the ARS National Animal Disease Center (NADC) in Ames, Iowa, is one of 12 total ARS researchers who were honored April 23 for their scientific achievements.
Baker joined the NADC in 2004 and today serves as lead scientist in the center’s Virus and Prion Research Unit in Ames. Among her accomplishments, Baker’s research on the 2009 H1N1 pandemic virus in pigs helped the swine industry address food-safety concerns in export markets. Baker went on to draw national and international acclaim for her sustained research excellence investigating the pathogenesis, diagnostics, vaccinology and interspecies transmission of Influenza A Viruses (IAV) in swine.
Baker’s systematic genetic and antigenic characterization of IAV revealed previously unrecognized diversity and established a baseline in the United States for monitoring ongoing evolutionary changes in the viruses, as well as the relatedness of U.S. isolates to those found in swine in other parts of the world. This information has also been pivotal to the improvement of commercial swine influenza vaccines.
Baker’s expertise in IAV and interspecies transmission has led to numerous speaking invitations, advisory positions and collaborations, including with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—particularly in response to the ongoing exchange of IAV between people and pigs. Under Baker’s leadership, the NADC’s Virus and Prion Research Unit directly contributes swine IAV genetic and antigenic data to the World Health Organization’s influenza vaccine composition meetings, which are held twice annually to inform decisions on strain selection for future human influenza vaccine production.
April 24, 2024 - USDA
