Guillermo Arcega Castillo, DVM, MPVM

Guillermo Arcega Castillo is a veterinarian and public health researcher originally from San Luis Río Colorado, a border city in northern Mexico. He earned his DVM from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California and later completed a Master of Preventive Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis. His career has taken him from food safety work in Alaska and swine vaccine research in North Carolina to community veterinary medicine in Arizona, giving him a broad perspective on animal health across different settings and populations.

He recently completed the Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine Residency at the University of Minnesota and is transitioning into a PhD in Veterinary Sciences, continuing his work with the Center for Animal Health and Food Safety (CAHFS). His research has included studying tick diversity and spotted fever group rickettsiae in the U.S.–Mexico border region, African swine fever preparedness and animal-movement networks in the Caribbean, and capacity-building through the ProgRESSVet program in Romania. More recently, his work has focused on H5N1 in dairy cattle in Minnesota, New World screwworm preparedness among veterinarians and livestock producers in Mexico and Central America, research on public-health approaches to carbapenem-resistant organisms in companion animals in the United States, and veterinary public health and community-based animal health work in Oaxaca, including activities supporting sea turtle conservation.

Much of Guillermo’s work is motivated by the connection between science and its practical application. He is particularly interested in strengthening collaboration across borders and translating epidemiologic evidence into tools and information that veterinarians, producers, policymakers, and communities can use.

His broader interests include epidemiology, zoonotic and foodborne diseases, emergency preparedness, One Health, disease surveillance, biostatistics, and spatial analysis.