The Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center brings together curiosity and expertise from a wide variety of science backgrounds in an effort to truly understand and improve wildlife health. We work with many affiliates, so this list evolves with our projects and collaborations:
Simon Anthony
Professor
UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Virology; Viral Ecology; Viral Evolution; Pandemic Preparedness
Edward (Rob) Atwill
Director
Western Institute for Food Safety & Security
Areas of Focus: Epidemiology and medical ecology of infectious diseases potentially transferred between livestock and wildlife; assessing microbial contamination of the environment by livestock and wildlife, with a special emphasis on microbial contamination of surface water.
Hugues Beaufrere
Co-Director & Associate Professor
California Raptor Center | Medicine & Epidemiology - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: raptor medicine and rehabilitation, exotic animal medicine, companion zoological medicine, clinical research in avian, reptile, and small mammal medicine, lipid disorders in birds and reptiles, molecular imaging in birds, biostatistics for clinical research
Aaron C. Brault
Faculty
Center for Vector-borne Diseases, UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Identification of viral determinants of vector competence and vertebrate virulence for arthropod-borne viruses, such as West Nile encephalitis virus. Molecular epidemiological approaches and genetic engineering techniques for improved diagnostics and risk assessment for emerging diseases transmitted by arthropod vectors.
Deborah Brosnan
Marine Scientist
Deborah Brosnan & Associates | OceanShot
Richard Brown
Associate Professor
Cal Poly Humboldt
Areas of Focus: Ecological maintenance of pathogens that infect wildlife, transmission ecology, ecological relevance of pathogen strain variation, tick-borne disease ecology, diseases of wild carnivores, and other topics related to wildlife diseases.
Gary Bucciarelli
Chair | Faculty
UC Sentinel Sites for Nature | Department of Wildlife, Fish, & Conservation Biology - UC Davis
Areas of Focus: Biodiversity, Standardized Monitoring, Molecular Ecology, Genomics, Artificial Intelligence, Field-Based Research, Amphibians
Barbara A. Byrne
Emerita Professor
Pathology, Microbiology, & Immunology - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Veterinary Microbiology, Clinical Veterinary Microbiology, Antimicrobial Resistance
Tim E. Carpenter
Professor Emeritus
Medicine & Epidemiology - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Livestock production economics; mathematics and simulation modeling; spatial and wildlife epidemiology.
Bruno B. Chomel
Professor Emeritus
Population Health & Reproduction - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Zoonotic disease epidemiology and diagnostics; microbiology; infectious disease (bovine, companion animal, laboratory animal, primate, ruminant, wildlife).
Bruce Christensen
Assistant Professor
Population Health & Reproduction - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Specialty focus in equine reproduction
Deana Clifford
Lead Non-Game Veterinarian
California Department of Fish & Wildlife
Areas of Focus: epidemiologic study design, disease risk analysis and disease management of wildlife species
Tracy L. Clippinger
Senior Veterinarian
Zoological Society of San Diego
Areas of Focus: Captive wildlife medicine; diseases associated with intensive husbandry; reintroduction of captively-bred endangered species
David Coil
Program Manager
Institute for Pandemic Insights
Area of focus: program/project management, microbiology, public health
Alan Conley
Professor & Agronomist
Population Health & Reproduction - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Biochemical and molecular control of gonadal and adrenal steroidogenesis and its role in the reproductive development and physiology of vertebrates.
Patricia A. Conrad
Professor Emeritus
Pathology, Microbiology, & Immunology - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Biotechnology, immunology, infectious disease, parasitology. Molecular biology; immunology of pathogenic protozoa (Neospora, babesia, sarcocystosis). Development of parasite-specific DNA probes and immunoassays; immunological and epidemiological studies on protozoal parasites of dogs, horses, cattle and humans; special interest in characterization of protozoal parasites that cause infertility, abortion in cattle; and tick-transmitted protozoa.
Kim Conway
One Health Lead
California Department of Public Health
Angel Desai
Associate Professor
Division of Infectious Diseases - UC Davis Health
Areas of Focus: Emerging Infectious Diseases, Clinical Infectious Diseases (humans)
John M. Eadie
Professor Emeritus | D.G. Raveling Chair of Waterfowl Biology
UC Davis Department of Wildlife, Fish, & Conservation Biology
Areas of Focus: Waterfowl ecology and evolution; behavioral ecology; ecological and conservation genetics
Holly B. Ernest
Associate Professor in Residence
Population Health & Reproduction - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Genetics for wildlife conservation and management; genetic epidemiology; conservation biology; wildlife veterinary medicine; spatial ecology; forensic genetics
Deborah Fauquier
Veterinary Medical Officer
National Marine Fisheries Service
Areas of Focus: Marine mammals, sea birds, sea turtles, wildlife disease, marine mammal strandings, harmful algal blooms
Erik Fernandez y Garcia
Professor of Clinical Pediatrics
UC Davis Health
William T. Ferrier
Retired, Former Director
Surgical Research Facility - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine | California Raptor Center
Areas of Focus: raptor medicine; falconry; infectious diseases and toxins in wild birds.
Cara Field
Director of Conservation Medicine
The Marine Mammal Center
Janet Foley
Professor & MPVM Chair
UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Emerging infectious disease, vector-borne disease, small mammal conservation
Mourad Gabriel
Co-Director
Integral Ecology Research Center
Areas of Focus: Wildlife Disease Ecology, Wildlife toxicology & food-web contamination, Carnivore Ecology, Human Wildlife Conflict, Vector-borne & zoonotic disease, Applied conservation science & federal program leadership, Remote sensing & UAS applications,Science-to-policy translation
Ian A. Gardner
Canada Excellence Research Chair in Aquatic Epidemiology
Center for Veterinary Epidemiological Research - University of Prince Edward Island
Areas of Focus: Epidemiology of swine, wildlife, and livestock diseases; diagnostic test evaluation; analytical and clinical epidemiology; swine pneumonia
Brooke Genovese
Postdoctoral Scholar
UC Berkeley | Gorilla Doctors
Areas of Focus: computational biology, eco-immunology, zoonotic viruses, wildlife telemetry
Sean Godwin
Assistant Professor
Department of Environmental Science & Policy - UC Davis
Area of Focus: Disease interactions between farmed and wild marine animals
Richard Golightly
Professor Emeritus
Wildlife Department - Cal Poly Humboldt
Areas of Focus: Seabirds (including Common Murre, Marbled Murelets, and others) and their diets and habitats
Gary Greene
Professor Emeritus of Marine Geology + Head
Center for Habitat Studies - San Jose State University Moss Landing Laboratories
Areas of Focus: Marine Geology, Benthic Habitats, Submarine Canyons & Landslides, Tsunamis, Coastal Processes
Frances Gulland
Chair
U.S. Marine Mammal Commission
Area of focus: Marine mammal health
Christina Harvey
Assistant Professor
UC Davis Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Areas of Focus: Bird flight dynamics, aerodynamics
Danielle Harvey
Adjunct Professor
UC Davis Health
Areas of Focus: biostatistics
Michelle Hawkins
Director Emeritus
California Raptor Center - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Companion avian and exotic animal medicine and surgery; raptor medicine and rehabilitation
David Hird
Professor Emeritus
UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Epidemiology. Primarily food-producing animals and zoonoses
Pam Hullinger
Retired - Former Director
California Animal Health & Food Safety Laboratory - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Foreign animal disease prevention, policy development and response planning at both the state and national levels.
David A. Jessup
Retired - State Wildlife Veterinarian
California Department of Fish & Wildlife
Areas of Focus: Infectious diseases and their effect on wildlife populations. Oil pollution and other man-made and environmental toxins; wildlife capture, anesthesia, and handling and relocation.
Rebeka Kading
Associate Professor
Colorado State University
Sree Kanthaswamy
Research Geneticist
California National Primate Research Center - UC Davis
Areas of Focus: Population genetics and animal forensics. Using simple tandem repeats (STRs) or microsatellites and mtDNA markers to define the genetic and population structures of captive and wild populations of non-human primates. Animal forensics based on the analyses of traces of animal blood, saliva and hair collected at crime scenes or from civil cases for DNA-typing.
Kevin Keel
Professor
Pathology, Microbiology, & Immunology - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Infectious diseases of wildlife, wildlife pathology
Krista Keller
Associate Professor of Clinical Zoological Companion Animal Medicine & Surgery
UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Reptile medicine, infectious disease, zoological medicine, mycology
Terra Kelly
Wildlife Veterinarian & Epidemiologist | Director
EpiEcos
Anne Kjemtrup
Research Scientist & Veterinarian
California Department of Public Health Vector-Borne Disease Section
Areas of Focus: epidemiology of tick-borne diseases, plague, hantavirus, typhus in CA
Sarah Lagattuta
Field Research Fellow
Institute for Pandemic Insights - UC Davis
Michael Lairmore
Professor Emeritus + Former Dean
Pathology, Microbiology, & Immunology - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Nadine Lamberski
Chief Conservation & Wildlife Health Officer
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
Areas of Focus: Wildlife Health and Conservation
Jennie Lane
Livestock & Natural Resources Advisor
UC Agriculture & Natural Resources
V. Michael Lane
Professor Emeritus
Population Health & Reproduction - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Mammalian reproductive hormones, fertility and fecundity; field applications of contraception.
Emma Lantz
Wildlife Veterinarian
California Department of Fish & Wildlife
Areas of Focus: Free-ranging wildlife, capture and chemical immobilization, conservation ethics and animal welfare
Bill Lasley
Member
Environmental Health Sciences Center
Areas of Focus: Biotechnology, epidemiology, reproduction (primate, wildlife, zoo/exotic). Ovarian function; early pregnancy and comparative reproductive endocrinology. Wildlife reproduction. Comparative reproductive endocrinology, toxicology, and epidemiology. Reproduction of non-domestic species; endocrine aspects of female fertility and early pregnancy, reproductive epidemiology.
Ariel Loredo
Postdoctoral Researcher
UC Davis Veterinary Medicine Teaching & Research Center
Linda J. Lowenstine
Professor Emeritus
Pathology, Microbiology, & Immunology - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Pathology and pathogenesis of naturally occurring diseases of captive and free-living marine mammals, nonhuman primates, and birds especially those affecting conservation and captive propagation. Current focus is on the herpesviruses of sea lions and harbor seals, the role of viruses and pollutants in cancer in sea lions, domoic acid intoxication in marine mammals and birds, diseases of gorillas, orangutans and bonobos and cardiovascular disease in great apes.
Leslie Lyons
Professor Emerita
Population Health & Reproduction - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Comparative genetics; genetic maps to address inherited diseases.
James N. MacLachlan
Professor Emeritus
Pathology, Microbiology, & Immunology - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Viral pathogenesis; Molecular characterization of West Nile virus, equine arteritis virus & bluetongue virus; pathogenesis of bluetongue infection of cattle, sheep and wildlife; pathogenesis of equine arteritis virus infection.
Rozaihan Mansor
Associate Professor
Universiti Putra Malaysia
Gary D. Marty
Research Associate
UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Area of Focus: Effects of infectious diseases and toxicants on wild fish populations
Greg Massey
Principal Data Scientist
SAS Applied AI & Modeling Division
Areas of Focus: Advanced analytics, avian medicine and surgery, oiled wildlife rehabilitation, emergency response/crisis management, field operations planning and management, avian capture techniques.
Brenda McCowan
Professor
Population Health & Reproduction - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Behavioral ecology and evolution of mammalian vocal communication; animal behavior and communication as tools for animal production, management, and conservation
Anita K. McElroy
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Department of Pediatrics - University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Areas of Focus: Defining and quantifying mechanisms of immune mediated protection following Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) vaccination in humans and animal models; mapping human immune responses to emerging viruses; immunity and pathogenesis of emerging viruses; evaluation of monoclonal antibody therapeutics for treatment and prevention of viral infections; understanding the roles of species and tissue tropism in viral pathogenesis; defining host genetic determinants of viral pathogenesis
Kay Mehren
Retired Head of Veterinary Services
Toronto Zoo
Stuart Meyers
Professor Emeritus
Anatomy, Physiology, & Cell Biology - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Sperm cell biology, stallion infertility, evaluation of sperm function, cryobiology of macaque and horse sperm.
Melissa Miller
Wildlife Veterinarian Specialist
California Department of Fish & Wildlife
Areas of Focus: Marine wildlife pathology. Land-sea pollution. Biotoxins.
Robert Moeller
Veterinary Pathologist
California Animal Health & Food Safety Laboratory System - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: pathology
Chuck Mohr
Retired - Professor
Pathology, Microbiology, & Immunology - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Cell pathology, immunotoxicology, mast cell biology, signal transduction, cellular calcium regulation, immunotoxicology.
Steve Monfort
Executive Director
UC Nature - UC Office of the President
Areas of Focus: Conservation Biology, Biodiversity Science, Zoo Biology, Reproductive Biology, Capactiy Building and Training
Jim Moore
Retired - Former Lead
Shellfish Health Lab - California Department of Fish & Wildlife | Bodega Marine Laboratory
Areas of Focus: Monitoring the geographic distribution of the rickettsial bacterium that causes withering syndrome (WS), a devastating disease of multiple California abalone species, and examining species-specific difference in virulence, disease progression and potential impact of climate change.
Brandon Munk
Senior Wildlife Veterinarian
California Department of Fish & Wildlife
Areas of Focus: Wildlife population health and diseases surveillance. Health and disease of big game species, e.g. deer, black bear, etc.
Michael Murray
Jane Dunaway Director of Veteirnary Sciences
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Areas of Focus: Sea otters, teleost, elasmobranch, and aquatic invertebrate medicine; aquatic bird medicine
Bennie Osburn
Dean Emeritus
UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Biotechnology, immunology, infectious disease (bovine, ruminant). Immunopathology, fetal and viral disease, bluetongue virus, preharvest food safety.
John Pascoe
Professor Emeritus
Dean's Office | Surgical & Radiological Sciences - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Pathophysiology of respiratory disease; pathophysiology of gastrointestinal disease
Joanne Paul-Murphy
Professor Emeritus
Companion Exotic Animal Medicine Service - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Niels C. Pedersen
Professor Emeritus
Medicine & Epidemiology - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Infectious and immunologic diseases of animals. Retroviral diseases of cats and monkeys. Animal models for human AIDS.
Patricia Pesavento
Professor
Pathology, Microbiology, & Immunology - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Diseases affecting intensively housed animals, and in particular we study shelter associated feline and canine diseases. The compounded vulnerability of shelter animals to disease includes host compromise (eg stress, nutrition), but also dense populations of animals provide a unique environment with a high prevalence of pathogens and intense variability in pathogen virulence.
Amira Resnick
Statewide Director of Community Nutrition & Health
UC Agriculture & Natural Resources
Areas of Focus: Developing and implementing public health programming to prevent chronic or diet-related disease, increase social belonging, and all domains of human health and well-being across the lifespan. Longest-standing work is in nutrition and physical activity education and policy, systems, and environmental changes with locally-based partners.
Bruce Rideout
Retired - Pathologist & Disease Investigation Specialist
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
Areas of Focus: Pathogenesis and epidemiology of infectious diseases; avian embryonic and neonatal pathology as it relates to captive propagation for recovery programs; population dynamics of infectious disease and disease risk assessment for translocation and reintroduction programs.
Jeffrey Roberts
Professor Emeritus
Medicine & Epidemiology - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Nonhuman primates, infectious disease, aging, habitat restoration
Laura Rogers-Bennett
Research Associate
Coastal & Marine Sciences Institute | Bodega Marine Laboratory
Areas of Focus: Health of marine populations and communities and applies these to fishery management and marine conservation issues.
Wilson Rumbeiha
Professor of One Environmental Health Toxicology
Department of Molecular Biosciences - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Area of Focus: toxicology
Cheryl Scott
Former Director
Calvin Schwabe One Health Project - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Karen Shapiro
Professor
Pathology, Microbiology, & Immunology - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: transport and fate of zoonotic pathogens in watersheds and coastal ecosystems; effects of landscape change and climate variability on disease transmission; impacts of water scarcity and impaired quality on human and animal population health, and food safety.
Eugene P. Steffey
Professor Emeritus
Surgical & Radiological Sciences - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Anesthesia, anesthesiology, cardiopulmonary physiology, physiology/pharmacology.
Jeffery L. Stott
Professor & Agronomist
Pathology, Microbiology, & Immunology - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Immunology infectious disease (bovine, ruminant, equine, wildlife). Immunopathogenesis of viral and bacterial diseases in ruminant, equine and marine mammal species. Immunomodulation of the mucosal immune system. Developmental and comparative immunology of marine mammal species, domestic livestock (bovine/equine) and zoo animals.
Robert Sumaye
Senior Research Scientist
Ifakara Health Institute
Areas of Focus: Veterinary epidemiology and One Health research, with a strong focus on Rift Valley Fever and other zoonotic vector-borne diseases, integrating field surveillance, laboratory diagnostics, spatial analysis, and transmission modeling to understand and control disease dynamics at human–animal–environment interfaces
Meg Sutherland-Smith
Director of Veterinary Services
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
Areas of Focus: Captive and free-ranging wildlife medicine
Jerrold Tannenbaum
Professor Emeritus
Population Health & Reproduction - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Animal ethics and law; agricultural law and ethics; veterinary ethical, legal, and policy studies; animal research ethics; animal welfare science and ethics; environmental ethics.
Ross P. Tarara
Pathologist
California National Primate Research Center
Areas of Focus: Wildlife pathology with emphasis on primates
Lisa A. Tell
Professor & Agronomist
Medicine & Epidemiology - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Diseases of free ranging and companion avian species. Special emphasis on avian mycobacteriosis and treatment of avian fungal infections of the respiratory tract. Expanding population size of endangered psittacine species and providing a means of genome resource banking.
Gregory Timmel
Attending Veterinarian/Director
UC Berkeley
Areas of Focus: Laboratory Animal Medicine, Animal Care and Use Program organization and leadership, Medical Primatology, Behavior
Dominic Travis
Chief Programs Officer
The Marine Mammal Center
Areas of Focus: Epidemiology; Human-Wildlife Interface; Ecosystem Health
Koen Van Rompay
Research Professor
National Biomedical Research Institute (formerly known as California National Primate Research Center)
Areas of Focus: nonhuman primate models of infectious diseases/virology/immunology
Frank J.M. Verstraete
Professor Emeritus
Surgical & Radiological Sciences - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Areas of Focus: Comparative odontology; comparative oral and dental pathology; structure and pathology of the temporomandibular joint in mammals.
E. Scott Weber
Veterinarian & Wildlife Communications Liaison
Penn Vet Wildlife Futures Program
Areas of Focus: zoological and aquarium collections, companion exotic animals, marine animal rehabilitation, and conservation medicine. Special interest in the immune response of fish, reptiles, and amphibians to infectious disease.
Bart Weimer
Professor/Chair
Population Health & Reproduction - UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine
Michael Wilkes
Director of Global Health
UC Davis School of Medicine
Sarah Wilkin
Coordinator
Marine Mammal Health & Stranding Response Program - National Marine Fisheries Service
Areas of Focus: Marine mammal health, particularly stranding and entanglements. Protected marine species oil spill response, particularly marine mammal and sea turtles.
JoAnn Yee
Retired - Volunteer Consultant
National Biomedical Research Institute (formerly known as California National Primate Research Center)
Areas of Focus: nonhuman primates, laboratory diagnostic testing, infectious disease
Pam Yochem
Retired - Chief Sciences Officer
Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute
Huaijun Zhou
Chancellor's Leadership Professor
UC Davis
Areas of Focus: Disease resistance, immune function, genetics, genomics, bioinformatics, Machine learning in poultry
Jeffery Zuba
Retired - Veterinarian
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
Areas of Focus: Captive and free-ranging wildlife medicine; endangered species recovery and reintroduction; diagnostic techniques in large mammals.