Sofia Boqvist

My interest for zoonotic diseases started already when I was an undergraduate-student. Since then, zoonoses, veterinary public health and food safety have interested and engaged me.

I supervise MSc students and lecture on food safety and veterinary public health.

My research area mainly focuses on aspects of veterinary public health, microbial food safety, and epidemiology,

Current and a selection of previous research projects

• Molecular characterization and AMR among Salmonella spp. isolated from food in Cambodia (Sida)
• AMR in zoonotic pathogens – a challenge for urban small holder livestock production system, Uganda (VR)
• Mitigation of Campylobacter and other pathogenic bacteria in Swedish  poultry production (SLU, Sandberg)
• Genomic diversity and AMR of Campylobacter using One Health approach, Ethiopia (Sida)
• One Health Initiative – Food safety interventions along pork value chain in Vietnam (ILRI)

I have special responsibility for external collaboration within the food safety area in my current position. External collaboration and extension are important tools for the university to disseminate knowledge and create new collaborations of societal benefit. My extension work has been with both national and international partners.

Current position

I am senior researcher with special responsibility for extension, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health (BVF) since 2012, and the Director of the Agriculture for Food Security 2030 (AgriFoSe2030) programme.

Academic degrees

• Associate Professor in Infectious Disease Epidemiology 2010
• PhD in Reproduction 2002
• Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) 1997

Previous employments

• Head of section for microbiology and food safety, BVF, SLU: 2015-2017
• Assistant professor, BVF, SLU: 2007-2012
• Head of Zoonosis center, Department of Disease Control, National Veterinary Institute (SVA): 2006-2007
• Veterinary Epidemiologist, Department of Disease Control, SVA: 2001-2006 (50% at the Institute for Communicable Diseases: 2001-2003)
• PhD student, SLU: 1997-2002

A selection of commissions

• Theme leader within the AgriFose2030 programme: 2015-2019
• Head of Centre of Global Animal Diseases, SLU: 2011-2015
• Swedish European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) representative in Task Force for Zoonoses: 2002-2007
• WHO Avian Influenza Team, Vietnam: 2004

• Main supervisor for four ongoing PhD projects and two finalized.
• Co-supervisor for eight finalized PhD projects.
• Main supervisor for 15 MSC projects.

More than 85 peer reviewed articles in international journals.

Rortana C, Dang-Xuan S, Nguyen-Viet H, Unger F, Lindahl JF, Tum S, Ty C, Grace D,  Osbjer K, Boqvist S. 2022 Quantitative risk assessment of salmonellosis in Cambodian consumers through chicken and pork salad consumption. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 6:1059235. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.1059235

Abu Hatab A, Krautscheid L, Boqvist S. 2021. COVID-19, Livestock Systems and Food Security in Developing Countries: A systematic review of an emerging literature. Pathogens, 10: 586. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10050586

Rajala E, Vogel I, Sundin A, Kongmanila D, Nassuna Musoke M.G., Musundire R, Nasha Mulangala M, Chiwona-Karltun L, Magnusson U, Boqvist S. 2020. How can agricultural research translation projects targeting smallholder production systems be strengthened by using Theory of Change? Global Food Security. 28, article: 100475, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100475

Hansson I, Tamminen L-M, Frosth S, Fernström L-F, Emanuelsson U, Boqvist S. 2020. Occurrence of Campylobacter spp. in Swedish calves, common sequence types, and antibiotic resistance patterns, Journal of Applied Microbiology. https://doi.org/10.1111/jam.14914

Fernandez-Cassi X,  Söderqvist K, Bakeeva A, Vaga M, Dicksved J, Vagsholm I,  Jansson A, Boqvist S. 2020. Microbial communities and food safety aspects of crickets (Acheta domesticus) reared under controlled conditions, Journal of Insects as Food and Feed. 6(4); 429-440 https://doi.org/10.3920/JIFF2019.0048

Vågsholm I, Shah Arzoomand N, Boqvist B. 2020.  Food security, safety, and sustainability - getting the trade-offs right. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, section Agro-Food Safety. Review. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.00016

Habib I, Harb A, Hanson I, Vågsholm I, Osama W, Adnan S, Anwar M, Agamy N, Boqvist S. 2020. Challenges and opportunities towards the development of risk assessment at the consumer phase in developing countries— the case of Campylobacter cross-contamination during handling of raw chicken in two Middle Eastern countries. Pathogens, 9: 62; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens9010062

Hallenberg Ström G, Björklund H, Barnes A C, Chau Thi Da, Nguyen Huu Yen Nhi, Trinh Thi Lan, Magnusson U, Norman Haldén A, Boqvist S. 2019. Antibiotic use by small-scale farmers in freshwater aquaculture in the upper Mekong Delta, Vietnam. 31:3Journal of Aquatic Animal Health https://10.1002/aah.10084

Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health, SLU
Agriculture for Food Security 2030 (AgriFoSe2030)