I have recently joined the Odum School of Ecology (University of Georgia) as an Assistant Professor. I am a wildlife disease ecologist with interests in the dynamics and drivers of infectious diseases. I have broad interests in pathogen transmission, and how changes in ecology and environment shape host-pathogen interactions over multiple scales. Through my research, I aim to address fundamental questions about the drivers of infection, and guide strategies for public health interventions of zoonotic pathogens, while also contributing to the management and conservation of animal study species. I use a combination of field and quantitative ecology, with a particular focus on bat zoonoses in my current work. I am currently building a research program that will integrate international work on bat-virus systems in Australia and Kenya, and local projects on bat ecology and bat health here in the United States.
I was previously a postdoctoral research fellow in the Fayetteville Disease Ecology lab based at the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas. My research focused on bat ebolavirus ecology in East Africa. Specifically, I utilized a model guided fieldwork agenda to better understand plausible maintenance and transmission dynamics of Bombali ebolavirus in the Angolan free-tailed bat (Mops condylurus) and little free-tailed bat (Chaerephon pumilus). This research is ongoing, and involves a collaborative effort with researchers at the University of Helsinki, University of Nairobi, Maasai Mara University, and the University of Cambridge.
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Prior to my postdoc, I completed my PhD in the McCallum Disease Ecology Research Group based at the Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University (Australia). My thesis was a multidisciplinary investigation into the patterns and mechanistic drivers of Hendra virus infection in Australian flying-foxes (Pteropus spp.), focusing on urban-altered roost structure as a driver of virus transmission and spillover. My PhD research was undertaken as part of a larger, collaborative study investigating mechanisms of bat zoonotic spillover. Our team (BatOneHealth) includes over 70 scientists working across seven countries, with field teams in Australia, Ghana, Bangladesh and Madagascar, using henipaviruses as a model to understand spillover. I continue to collaborate with researchers from this team, from institutions including Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) - a research facility of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) -, Cornell University, Pennsylvania State University, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and the University of Cambridge.
I enjoy contributing to side projects with my ecological and analytical expertise. Having interesting discussions with fellow researchers is one of my favourite aspects of science. Some fun collaborations I have been involved with include: reviews on landscape immunology, bat henipaviruses, and bat coronaviruses; modelling of pathogen exposure in wild and domestic felids (Puma concolor, Lynx rufus, Felis catus), fire on wet sclerophyll forest dynamics, and populations of short-beaked echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus). I have also worked with the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, one of the world's largest conservation organisations, conducting endangered fauna monitoring programs of mammals, reptiles, birds, and invertebrates at remote wildlife sanctuaries.