MDPI World Rabies Day 2025
the chair
Welcome to our World Rabies Day 2025 webinar!
This year’s theme, “Act Now: You, Me, Community,” underscores the urgent need for shared responsibility in rabies prevention and control. It reminds us that progress depends not only on scientific advancements and policy, but on individual and community-level action, from dog vaccination campaigns to timely access to post-exposure prophylaxis and public awareness.
Rabies remains a public health challenge in many regions, despite being entirely preventable. By bringing together researchers and experts from across disciplines, this webinar aims to foster dialogue, highlight effective strategies, and inspire action toward the global goal of eliminating dog-mediated human rabies deaths.
We thank you for your time and interest to this cause, and we promise to provide valuable insights and conversations!
Date: 29 September 2025
Time: 12:00 pm EDT (New York/Toronto)| 6:00 pm CEST (Zurich/Rome)
Webinar ID: 817 7331 3946
Webinar Secretariat: journal.webinar@mdpi.com
Important Dates
- Registration end dateSep 29, 2025
Meet Our Speakers
Dr. Maria Cristina Schneider
Department of Global Health, Georgetown University;
Cristina Schneider is a veterinary doctor and an epidemiologist with more than 30 years of public health experience. After working almost 20 years at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in Washington D.C., the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Schneider is now Adjunct Professor at the Department of Global Health at Georgetown University, consultant for WHO and a collaborator of the Institute of Collective Health, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In her last position at PAHO, Dr. Schneider was the Animal and Human Health Interface Advisor of the PAHO Health Emergencies Department, conducting activities related to the prediction, prevention, and response to outbreaks of leptospirosis and other infectious hazards. Some of her previous contributions at PAHO include: the initiative to eliminate neglected diseases; regional advisor on zoonosis, specifically rabies, in the Veterinary Public Health Unit; and epidemiologist in the Health Analysis Unit working with health inequalities.
Before joining PAHO, Dr. Schneider worked for the Brazilian Ministry of Health as the Rabies National Coordinator and for the State Health Department of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in a low-income area community health project. Most of her work has been focused on providing technical assistance to countries in the Region of the Americas and conducting analyses to guide decision-making. She has published extensively in the peer-reviewed literature and written book chapters, including a chapter on One Health for the Oxford Encyclopedia of Global Public Health.
Dr. Marco Vigilato
Pan American Center for Foot and Mouth Disease and Veterinary Public Health; Department of Communicable Diseases Prevention, Control and Elimination
Coordinator, Zoonoses Area, Zoonotic Diseases and Veterinary Public Health Advisor;
I am a regional leader with over 25 years of experience translating One Health science into effective policies and public health results across Latin America and the Caribbean.
As Coordinator of Zoonoses and Veterinary Public Health at PAHO/WHO’s PANAFTOSA Center, I steer regional strategies for disease prevention and control, lead multi-country technical cooperation, and engage in policy dialogue with ministries and regional partners. My work bridges technical expertise and leadership, focusing on evidence-based solutions, regional collaboration, and sustainable health systems.
Throughout my career, I have contributed to significant regional milestones, including supporting countries in developing PAHO’s first One Health policy, collaborate in responses to health emergencies such as COVID-19, and fostering partnerships with international organizations, and national health and agriculture authorities. I am committed to integrating human, animal, and environmental health perspectives to promote sustainable development and strengthen public health systems in our region.
My professional path is driven by a dedication to improving health, safety, and resilience for communities across the Americas through collaborative action and strategic leadership.
Dr. Nidia Aréchiga-Ceballos
Instituto de Diagnóstico y Referencia Epidemiológicos (InDRE),
Co-founder of Kanan por la Vida
Silvestre;
I hold a degree in Biology from the School of Sciences at the Universidad Nacional
Autónoma de México. I earned both my Master’s and Ph.D. in Biochemical
Sciences from the Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas at the Instituto
Politécnico Nacional. Over the course of my career, I have served as a guest
researcher at several internationally recognized institutions, including Texas A&M
University (College Station, Texas), the Pasteur Institute (Paris, France), and the
Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology at the Poxvirus and
Rabies Branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta,
Georgia). I also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Unit for Viral Isolation
and Detection within the National Center for Microbiology at the Instituto de
Salud Carlos III (Madrid, Spain).
In 2012, I was honored with Mexico’s National Prize for Scientific Journalism and
Outreach. I am an active member of the Mexican Network of Virology and the
Latin American Society for Vector Ecology. My research centers on viral diseases
in wildlife, with a particular emphasis on bats and procyonids. I am currently
affiliated with the Instituto de Diagnóstico y Referencia Epidemiológicos (InDRE),
part of Mexico’s Ministry of Health, and I am a co-founder of Kanan por la Vida
Silvestre, a non-profit foundation dedicated to wildlife conservation.
The webinar was hosted via Zoom and required registration to attend. The full recording can be found below. In order to learn about future webinars, you can sign up to our newsletter by clicking “Subscribe” at the top of the page.