Global Health/Projects
Brian Bird DVM, MSPH, PhD
One Health Institute
(See also: Pathology/Virology, Vector-borne Disease Research)
Dr. Bird is a veterinarian and virologist with expertise in virus ecology and viral hemorrhagic fevers. He has an active research program in California and across Africa investigating zoonotic virus spillover and immunobiology from wildlife especially bats and rodents of high-consequence viruses, pathogen-detection, and the development of countermeasures ranging from vaccines for animal and human use to community-based risk mitigation. STAR student projects could range from laboratory analyses to field ecology depending on student interest and needs of currently funded projects.
Christine Kreuder Johnson, VMD, PhD
One Health Institute
(See also: Epidemiology, Wildlife/Zoonoses)
Dr. Kreuder Johnson is a Professor of Epidemiology and Ecosystem Health in the School of Veterinary Medicine and Director of the EpiCenter for Disease Dynamics at the One Health Institute at UC Davis. Her research focuses on wildlife population health and the impact of ecological processes on species at risk and patterns of disease transmission in marine and terrestrial wild animal populations. Recent activities investigate zoonotic disease spillover dynamics, viral host shifts, further characterization of the animal-human interface, and epidemiologic patterns facilitating zoonotic disease transmission and spread. She provides epidemiologic support to federal and state agencies during unusual outbreak events and directs global surveillance activities for the Emerging Pandemic Threats PREDICT program.
Contact info: ckjohnson@ucdavis.edu
Woutrina Smith, DVM, Ph.D.
Infectious disease epidemiology (see also: epidemiology and microbiology)
VM: Medicine & Epidemiology
Dr. Smith is an infectious disease epidemiologist with a special interest in One Health and the molecular epidemiology of zoonotic diseases. She works at local and global study sites where interactions among humans, animals and their environments lead to research questions that can be addressed using laboratory and fieldwork approaches to characterize and manage health at an inidividual, population, and ecosystem level. Her research involves zoonotic protozoa such as Cryptosporidium, Giardia, and Toxoplasma, as well as bacteria that include Mycobacterium, Salmonella, and Campylobacter.
Dr. Smith can be reached via email at wasmith@ucdavis.edu.