about me

disease ecology, ecosystem health, data science

Broadly, I am interested in the ecological and evolutionary processes that affect patterns of emerging infectious disease. I am especially drawn to the dynamic interactions between seasonality and demography in disease systems. Combining field-based investigations with large, public datasets, I am often exploring the various pathways through which environmental factors structure patterns of disease and population outcomes. The primary motivation of my research is to improve decision-making on animal and ecosystem health. 

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I am currently an ORISE Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the USDA Agricultural Research Service working on high consequence pathogens at the livestock-wildlife interface. Formerly, I was Postdoc with the Carver Research Group at the University of Georgia where  I explored the role of seasonality in wombat-mange population dynamics. I completed my PhD in the Langwig Lab at Virginia Tech where I worked on bats affected by white-nose syndrome, an emerging fungal disease that caused severe population declines across North America. My dissertation focused on the drivers and population-level consequences of sex-biased infections in collaboration with state and federal scientists and academics across multiple institutions. I have also worked within field systems to examine shifting adaptive traits with disease phase and exposure of wildlife communities to SARS CoV-2.