Written by Lauren Cahoon Roberts | Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine | Published August 4, 2025
When Jarra Jagne, D.V.M. ’90, was growing up in her native country of The Gambia, she was exposed to its rural areas and large populations of livestock during summer vacations accompanying her father on work trips. This fostered a fascination for animals, later heightened by an encounter with the famous James Herriot book, All Creatures Great and Small, which fueled her veterinary calling. “I imagined myself as a James Herriot in Gambia’s rural savanna saving the lives of cows, sheep, goats, and chickens,” says Jagne.
Decades later, thanks to drive, dedication and a boundless capacity for learning, Jagne has achieved her childhood dream and then some. As an international expert in poultry health and One Health in developing countries, Jagne has amassed a series of honors that recognize her expertise — and now, she is the 2025 recipient of the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM)’s Daniel Elmer Salmon Award for Distinguished Alumni Service, the highest alumni honor bestowed by the college.
The award recognizes those who have distinguished themselves in service to the profession, their communities or to the college. It was established by the CVM Alumni Association in 1986 and named in honor of Cornell’s first D.V.M. graduate, Daniel Elmer Salmon. Salmon is best remembered for his pioneering work in controlling contagious animal diseases in the early twentieth century and the bacterium Salmonella that was named in his honor.
Jagne’s colleagues are in full support of the recognition. “Her knowledge of agricultural sustainability and poultry husbandry across cultures is astonishingly deep and diverse,” says Dr. Karyn Bischoff, M.P.H. ’22, former associate professor of practice emerita with the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health. Mary Smith ’69, D.V.M. ’72, professor of ambulatory and production medicine and a Salmon Award recipient herself, notes how Jagne “has provided tremendous support for veterinarians, students and poultry owners.”
Beyond her knowledge, Jagne’s devotion to education and outreach is evident. “I have worked with many exceptional people throughout my career at Cornell, and Jarra uniquely stands out,” says Jennifer Peaslee, program and communications coordinator with the college’s Avian Health Program. “Her extensive experience, combined with her drive to educate, support and connect with all members and levels of the poultry community, has her unequaled in dedication to service.”
Early Inspiration in The Gambia
Jagne knew she wanted to be a veterinarian from the moment she witnessed a clinician perform surgery on a cat during an elementary school field trip. “I was so impressed by what I saw that from then on, all I could talk about was being a veterinary doctor,” Jagne says. More inspiration came from Jagne’s uncle, Dr Wally Ndow, a veterinarian, as well as The Gambia’s first president, Sir Dawda Jawara, who was a veterinarian before turning to politics. And of course, there were the Herriot books, each of which Jagne read and owned.
But the road to joining Herriot’s profession was not without barriers — some arising in her home country. “If I had a dollar for every family member and Gambian who tried to convince me I should be a human doctor, I would be a very wealthy woman,” Jagne says. Undeterred, she completed a livestock assistant certificate course through The Gambian government and soon became increasingly interested in attending college in the United States after hearing about her extended family members’ experiences studying there.
“My family pooled their resources, and in the spring semester of 1981, I was on my way to snowy Colorado from tropical Gambia,” says Jagne. “I chose Colorado for several reasons, including the presence of a few Gambians, strong mentorship from a former Gambia Peace Corps volunteer and the presence of a veterinary school at Colorado State University.”
However, Jagne ran into roadblocks as she applied to veterinary college. Colorado’s tuition for international students was too high and prevented her from enrolling the first time she was accepted. Determined to continue her studies, Jagne opted instead to enroll in a master’s degree program in microbiology at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. After completing one year of graduate studies her luck shifted — she was accepted to veterinary college at Cornell, whose lower tuition was made even more affordable thanks to the Gambian government awarding her a scholarship. The director of the Department of Livestock Services under the Ministry of Agriculture, to whom Jagne had sent her acceptance letter, just happened to be a CVM alumnus, and “was adamant that I should attend Cornell,” says Jagne. “In his opinion, it was the best veterinary school in the world.”
Navigating Cornell
“Veterinary school was not a bed of roses,” Jagne says. “There was a lot to navigate in the first year, including the passing of my mother a few months before I got my acceptance letters, the academic rigor which was to be expected and attitudes of some faculty towards minorities (I was one of three in a class of 80 students).”
Still, Cornell was rich with learning and opportunities and set the stage for Jagne’s career as a poultry expert. Mentored by world-renowned poultry disease researcher, Karel “Ton” Schat, Ph.D. ’78, Jagne conducted research in her third year of veterinary school on Newcastle disease using an oral vaccine in The Gambia. This study culminated in a publication in the journal Avian Pathology, fueling Jagne’s desire to pursue a career in the poultry field.
“Professor Schat, assisted by his colleagues in the Department of Avian and Aquatic Medicine provided the support and encouragement I needed to become specialized as a poultry veterinarian,” says Jagne. “Professor Schat continued to be a great professional mentor on my return to work at the veterinary college.”
A Woman of Many Firsts
After graduating, Jagne returned briefly to The Gambia to practice veterinary medicine. “I was the first woman veterinarian to return home to practice and the second woman to qualify as a veterinarian,” she says. Appointed as a senior veterinary and project officer, she had a diverse and high caseload and worked extensively with women livestock producers to help improve their livelihoods. “Veterinary practice in Gambia was challenging yet fulfilling. Seeing the happy faces of livestock owners after treatments worked was enough for me,” Jagne says.
Family demands and a desire for furthering her education drew Jagne back to the States, where she next attended a poultry medicine and pathology residency program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Poultry Diagnostic Laboratory. “I spent two years immersed in the poultry industry. I emerged as a seasoned poultry specialist, not just in medicine and pathology, but also in poultry nutrition, production and management,” she says.
Jagne brought this expertise back to Cornell, where she returned to manage the avian diagnostic laboratory, while also doing poultry-centered clinical work, teaching, and working as an extension associate, assisting in New York state surveillance for avian influenza in live bird markets and Salmonella surveillance in laying hens.
She also explored industry work, hired on as the first veterinarian at a major poultry breeding company, ISA Babcock, now Hendrix Genetics, where she managed all aspects of the company’s breeding stock in the United States and Canada and assisted in Mexico and the Caribbean when needed.
Epidemics and One Health
In 2006, Jagne’s expertise would soon be expanded to an even more global stage. With Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) on the rise internationally, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations recruited Jagne to work as a poultry veterinarian and diagnostician.
“I have always had a deep interest in international veterinary work,” Jagne says, “and I wanted to work with rural communities again. I knew this job would take me back to Africa, which I was excited about.” She was appointed mission leader for the creation of Africa’s first integrated national action plan, working in Sudan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria evaluating emergency preparedness plans for HPAI, responding to outbreaks, assisting with enhancements to laboratory capacity, biosafety measures, epidemiological investigations and more.
“I worked with numerous governments and communities devastated by HPAI outbreaks,” Jagne says. “Many lost their livelihoods, and I had to devise solutions that required not just veterinary knowledge but also excellent communication and diplomacy skills that we did not learn in veterinary school.”
Jagne was next recruited as a senior veterinary advisor to assist the USAID in developing an avian influenza program, STOP-AI, where she oversaw all technical programs and production of training materials and coordinated with human health partners to help with local pandemic preparedness plans for over a dozen countries. “This was the concept of One Health at play,” says Jagne.
Three years and over two dozen countries later, HPAI was under control in both humans and poultry, and Jagne was ready for her next career move, returning to Cornell as a poultry veterinary specialist in charge of the avian health program and poultry diagnostics, while also teaching in the D.V.M. curriculum and providing extension services to NYS poultry farmers. In 2021, Jagne also joined the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health due to the interconnectedness of poultry food systems, particularly those in developing countries, with public and human health.
Taking Pride in Mentorship
In addition to her clinical, diagnostic and One Health outreach, Jagne’s mentorship and teaching efforts are a major focus, and her main source of pride. “As a teacher of poultry medicine, I believe in bringing the farm to the classroom and the classroom to the farm,” she says.
She has taught countless students across nine courses each year, along with guest lectures and poultry-focused externships. “Taking students to farms to experience practice is one of my favorite activities,” she says. “I have inspired seven students to enter the poultry field, and they are all gainfully employed in different areas of the field.”
A former student notes the impact Jagne has had on her career. “Dr. Jagne inspired me through all she has done and continues to do in her career, and the impact she has had in poultry medicine both in the United States and around the world,” says Hailey Quercia, D.V.M. ’19. “She always was able to provide the same level of support, whether to someone with a single pet hen or someone with thousands of birds. Her example is something I strive toward.”
Looking to the Future
While there is plenty keeping Jagne busy at Cornell, she also has dreams of returning to The Gambia to continue some work she had started with women’s and youth poultry groups to help improve livelihoods and encourage food self-sufficiency. She also hopes to expand her scholarship and mentorship efforts to help increase female literacy in the country, and to assist in advising the University of The Gambia as they matriculate their first cohort of BVSc students this September.
“My Gambian veterinary colleagues have worked diligently to achieve this, and I have committed to advising and assisting them in their endeavor,” Jagne says.
