Robert & Patricia Switzer Foundation

Fellowship Year: 2004

Academic Background: UC Santa Barbara - Ph.D. - (Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology)

Current Position: Asst. Professor, Research , Brown University

Katherine is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Brown University and Research Scientist with the Consortium for Conservation Medicine in New York. Her research group at Brown works in the field of Conservation Medicine - an emerging discipline that resides at the intersection of environmental change, conservation biology, and the health of humans, wildlife, and ecosystems. They are primarily interested in four topics: 1) The patterns of human and wildlife infectious diseases that exist on the planet. 2) Environmental change and the emergence of infectious disease. 3) The implications of emerging infectious diseases and invasive species for public health and conservation. 4) Best management practices for regulating the mechanisms that facilitate the spread of infectious disease. Their principal approach in exploring these topics has been to examine the biogeographical dynamics of human and wildlife infectious diseases using a combination of meta-analyses, theory, and field studies.

Expertise: Conservation Science & Biology, Environmental & Public Health