Director | Affiliate Scientists | Post-Doctoral Researchers | Students | Staff

Who We Are: We are a collective of scientists, veterinarians, entomologists and extension specialists from the University of Florida who work to increase health outcomes for captive deer throughout Florida.

Director

Dr. Samantha Wisely

Associate Professor

Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

352-846-0645 | wisely@ufl.edu

Profile

Field of Study/Research: Disease ecology, molecular ecology, biogeography, wildlife biology

Affiliate Scientists

Dr. Jason K. Blackburn

Associate Professor

Department of Geography

352-294-7501 | jkblackburn@ufl.edu | @JasonKBlackburn

Profile

Field of Study/Research: Zoonotic diseases, wildlife diseases, disease transmission pathways, ecological niche modeling, spatio-temporal modeling of epidemiology, disease ecology, anthrax transmission dynamics

Dr. Nathan Burkett-Cadena

Assistant Professor

Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory

772-778-7200 ext. 141 | nburkettcadena@ufl.edu

Profile

Field of Study/Research: Host preference of blood-feeding insects, transmission ecology of arboviruses, pathogen surveillance

Dr. Juan Campos

Wildlife Extension Veterinarian

Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences and Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

(352) 294-4327 | jmcampos@ufl.edu

Profile

Field of Study/Research: Extension and outreach programming to deer farmers in Florida

 Dr. John Lednicky

Associate Professor

Department of Environmental & Global Health

352-273-9204 | jlednicky@phhp.ufl.edu

Profile

Field of Study/Research: Microbiology, virology

Dr. Nicole Stacy

Clinical Assistant Professor

Department of Aquatic Animal Health and Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences

352-294-4093 | stacyn@ufl.edu

Profile

Field of Study/Research: clinical pathology of exotic species, especially aquatic species and reptiles, environmental toxicology and wildlife conservation

Dr. Kuttichantran Subramaniam

Research Assistant Professor

Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathology

352-215-7278 | kuttichantran@ufl.edu

Profile

Field of Study/Research: Emerging Aquatic Animal Viruses (EAAV)

Dr. Heather Walden

Assistant Professor

Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathology

352-294-4125 | hdstockdale@ufl.edu

Profile

Field of Study/Research: parasites of importance to veterinary medicine, the relationships between parasite and host and resulting pathogenesis of disease, parasitic infections or infestations

Dr. Marcelo Wallau

Assistant Professor- Forages Extension Specialist

Agronomy Department

352-260-2254 | mwallau@ufl.edu

Profile

Field of Study/Research: Forage production and management

Post-Doctoral Researchers

Pacharapong (First) Khrongsee 

 PI: Kuttichantran Subramaniam

Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathology

firstpachar@ufl.edu

Field of Study/Research: Virus phylogeny

Students

An-Chi Cheng

Graduate Student, PhD | Advisor: Juan Campos-Krauer

Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences

anchicheng@ufl.edu

Field of Study/Research: Microbial ecology, Farmed and wild deer diseases in Florida, Antimicrobial resistance, Wildlife epidemiology

Emily DeRuyter

Graduate Student, PhD | Advisor: John Lednicky

Department of Environmental & Global Health

emilyderuyter@phhp.ufl.edu

Field of Study/Research: Microbiology, virology

Savannah Grace

Graduate Student, PhD | Advisor: Samantha Wisely

Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

savannah.grace@ufl.edu

Field of Study/Research: Wildlife disease ecology and molecular ecology

 Miranda Imeri

Graduate Student, PhD | Advisor: Marcelo Wallau

Agronomy Department

imeri.miranda@ufl.edu

Field of Study/Research: Wildlife conservation, interactions of wildlife and domestic animals and humans at the peri-domestic interface

Lily Maxwell

Dual BS-MS Student | Advisor: Juan-Campos-Krauer

Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation and Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences

lillianmaxwell@ufl.edu

Field of Study/Research: Wildlife disease ecology, large animal disease research, deerpox epidemiology

Vilma Montenegro Castro

Graduate Student, PhD | Advisor: Nathan Burkett-Cadena

Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory

vilma.montenegro@ufl.edu

Field of Study/Research: Culicoides research, sustainable agriculture, pest management strategies, and public education

Morgan Rockwell

Graduate Student, MS | Advisor: Nathan Burkett-Cadena

Department of Entomology

Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory

morganrockwell@ufl.edu

Field of Study/Research: Vector-host interactions, disease ecology, and deer malaria

Austin Surphlis

Graduate Student, MS | Advisor: Kuttichantran Subramaniam

Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathology

youngsurph@ufl.edu

Field of Study/Research: Microbial ecology, antimicrobial resistance, microbiome resistance, wildlife epidemiology

Staff

Tracey Logan

Biological Scientist

Department of Environmental & Global Health

tracey.logan@phhp.ufl.edu

Field of Study/Research: Microbiology, virology

Thien Nguyen

Necropsy Technician

Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences

thien.nguyen@ufl.edu

Field of Study/Research: zoonoses of wildlife

Braxton Sizemore

Necropsy Technician

Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences

braxton.sizemore@ufl.edu

Field of Study/Research: evolutionary biology and disease ecology, diseases of vertebrate communities at agroecological interfaces

Tanise Stenn

Molecular Biology Lab Technician

Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory

772-778-7200 ext. 161

tanise@ufl.edu

Field of Study/Research: Molecular biology and host preference of blood-meal

Kristen Wilson

Biological Scientist

Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

knwilson@ufl.edu

Field of Study/Research: Epidemiology of zoonotic and vector-borne diseases, disease ecology using a One Health approach