Dr. Gisela F. Erf is a Professor in the Department of Poultry Science, at the University of Arkansas System, Division of Agriculture, in Fayetteville, AR, USA. She received her B.S. in Animal Science and M.S. in Reproductive Physiology at the University of Guelph, Canada in 1981 and 1983, respectively. She obtained her Ph.D. in immunology at Cornell University in 1988. Her research interests include poultry immune system development and function; innate and adaptive, humoral and cell-mediated responses; etiology and immunopathology of autoimmune diseases and other multifactorial, non-communicable diseases in avian models; and nutritional and environmental immunomodulation. She is an author of more than 90 publications in peer-reviewed journals and the inventor of two U.S. Patents. She is a member of the Poultry Science Association, American Association of Immunologists, Pan-American Society for Pigment Cell Research and the International Avian Immunology Research Group.