I am a senior ecologist with United States Department of Agriculture Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health. I received my Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology from Colorado State University working with Dr. Colleen Webb and the Webb Lab. I also have a Master of Science in Forestry and a Bachelor of Science in Forest Management.
I am broadly interested in landscape and population ecology, with special interests in disease ecology and conservation biology. Specifically, I am interested in the mechanisms that drive contact and transmission of pathogens at the wildlife-livestock interface. I am also interested in how policy can be established to mitigate transmission. Specific systems I study include the cervid-cattle interface, feral swine-livestock interface, and wild bird-domestic fowl interface.
I have participated in a broad range of ecological projects addressing the epidemiology of viruses, bacteria, and ectoparasites. Some of these projects include: assessing the risk of introduction and establishment of exotic tick species such as the tropical bont and cattle fever ticks; ecology and transmission dynamics of arboviruses such as Everglades virus; targeted surveillance for deer hair loss syndrome in the Pacific Northwest; and spatially targeted surveillance for highly pathogenic avian influenza.