Rachel Toaff-Rosenstein

Email: rtoaff@gmail.com

Education
Ph.D., Animal Biology, University of California, Davis, California, 2016.
V.M.D., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2009.
B.S., Animal Science, Hebrew University, Rehovot, Israel, 2004.

Research
While enrolled in veterinary school, I was awarded the Penn Vet Student Inspiration Award, designed to encourage students to invent their future in veterinary medicine, while advancing the frontiers of veterinary medicine and expanding the profession’s impact on the well-being of animals and society. Given my passion for the welfare of food-producing animals, and desire to help mediate a scientifically-based dialogue between producers, consumers, and animal-health professionals and encourage practical, on-farm welfare improvements, I decided to pursue a Ph.D under the mentorship of Cassandra Tucker, which I completed in 2016. 

My doctoral research focused on characterizing the sickness response, which includes physiological changes such as fever and a variety of behavioral changes such as decreased feeding and grooming and increased lethargy and nociceptive sensitivity, in beef cattle affected with Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD). BRD is one of the most costly cattle diseases in the US, and the greatest cause of cattle morbidity and mortality in this country. 

I moved to Israel after graduating, and since October 2016 have been working as a research scientist at SCR-Allflex. In the course of my work, I assist with the development of automated technologies intended to help producers with earlier, more accurate disease detection. I am particularly excited by this job as it allows me to practically apply my veterinary and animal behavior training in an effort to harness the potential of cutting-edge technology to improve animal welfare on a large scale.