US mosquito expert lands top job at MRCU
Dr Jim McNelly
(CNS): The new head of the Mosquito Research and Control Unit (MRCU) is an American mosquito expert, government officials confirmed Tuesday. Dr James “Jim” McNelly will start work in Cayman on Monday, 5 March, when he leaves his current job at the Mosquito Control Division of Volusia County in Florida, where he has been director for more than six years. That division is similar in size to the MRCU and faces many of the same challenges relating to nuisance mosquitoes, vector-borne diseases and the impact the insects have on commerce and tourism.
During the past few years, Dr McNelly’s team has contended with multiple imported cases of mosquito-borne Zika and chikungunya, as well as cases of West Nile virus and malaria, and he was described as having a wealth of experience in mosquito control by the health ministry’s chief officer, Jennifer Ahearn.
“Dr McNelly was the successful candidate following a rigorous recruitment process. We are very fortunate that we have been able to attract someone with such depth of knowledge, who has been running a similar-sized mosquito control programme with many challenges that we also face in the Cayman Islands,” she said.
The ministry gave no details about that recruitment process, such as how many applications were considered or if local candidates had applied. CNS understands that one of the candidates was the current assistant director, who has worked at the department since 1999.
Dr McNelly replaces former director Dr Bill Petrie, who left the unit last year after three decades to become head of the Miami-Dade Mosquito Control Division. Nancy Barnard, who has been acting director in the interim, will return to her duties as deputy chief officer in the Ministry of Health, Environment, Culture and Housing.
“On behalf of the MRCU team, I extend a warm welcome to Dr McNelly,” she said, as she thanked the staff. “This is an extremely professional and harmonious unit,” Barnard added.
Dr McNelly said he was looking forward to joining the MRCU team. “It will be an honour to lead this organisation, which has such an excellent reputation and impressive legacy,” he said.
The new mosquito boss arrives at a time when there are questions surrounding the future direction of mosquito control, as it became apparently recently that not all of the scientists are in agreement about the use of GM mosquitoes in the arsenal of weapons against the increasingly pesticide-resistant Aedes aegypti.
Barnard confirmed last week that the planned national roll-out of the Oxitec GM project was being placed on hold after correspondence revealed some reluctance on the part of the ministry and the MRCU to commit to the technology.
All eyes, however, will now be on Dr McNelly and the position he takes towards the control of that species and the view he has of the Oxitec bio-engineered insects.
Dr McNelly has a long history working in the industry and was with the Illinois-based mosquito control services and products firm Clarke from 2008 until 2011 before going to Florida. Before that he was the regional manager for the company’s environmental mosquito management programme.
He has worked as the mosquito and black fly surveillance project coordinator for Rutgers University in New Jersey, and as an entomologist with the Cape May County Mosquito Commission in the same state. He is also a past president of the New Jersey Mosquito Control Association. He has a degree in agriculture and a masters in ecology as well as a PhD in entomology from North Carolina State University in Raleigh.
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Can we just not bother with this chap and use the funds earmarked for his annual salary to reinstall the spray plane or truck in Prospect please – not heard it this year not safe to walk at dawn or dusk without getting eaten alive!
Another great hire in the civil service. Gone are the days of politician interference ensuring that poor performers were given these top jobs. Thank you Chief Officer and DG. We have seen the change in the civil service. It’s really impressive.
Although I do not know Dr. McNelly and can judge only by his resume presented in the story, I would venture to say that Dade County got a better deal than Cayman. I worked with Dr. Petrie for many years and know the calibre of person and professional that he is.
I believe Dade County would have assessed various options when searching to replace their director, including next door in Volusia County, but they chose the candidate from Cayman (of course I don’t know if Dr. McNelly was a candidate but I would find it difficult to believe that he was not).
That says enough for me to make my comparison. Anyway, welcome and best wishes to Dr. McNelly.
8.37 Do you have all the facts needed to pass judgement?
Well, he is certainly qualified!
But he has no experience with Caymanian mosquitoes!
remind me of the unique difference with Cayman mosquitoes again especially with the their method of carrying diseases?
One has to deal with their rampant entitlement.
LOL!!
They fly on the left. Duh!
11.35 pm. Cayman mosquitoes are totally unique! They travel on the marl road after dark with big sacks containing zika and other wiruses over their shoulders, and wearing ski masks! LOL. Honestly, I like your question.
I would venture to say that the difference is that there are GMMs floating about that may have mutated. Is anyone checking? No yah. Good luck with that, really. Will future microbiologists be able to make sense of it all in terms of which GMM subspecies came first? Time is not on their side to fetch all that data for relevant data.
Compare these qualifications to the Caymanian candidates qualifications and they are not so impressive.
Shhh, nobody tell Bernie!
It shouldn’t be a problem. The other main candidate….a Caymanian….is a paper Caymanian and you know that Bernie is not going to fight for that one!!!
Exactly, plus a man with almost 20years of experience in the position was overlooked when the Director resigned and someone completely independent from the Unit was brought in to act as director… that alone should speak of the capabilities of this deputy director…
You were spot on with your first paragraph, it’s very interesting that he was not even given a chance to act as director.
Allan is the only man in MRCU management that really looked out for the welfare of his staff and was able to get much of their salaries increased and with better working conditions. Much credit also has to be given to Ms. Nancy who made many positive changes in the last few months that she was Acting Director.