Olivia Meyers
I am broadly interested in the interplay between health and ecology. In 2021, I graduated with a B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a minor in Environmental Studies from Princeton University. During this time, I was also pre-med and exploring my passion for both human medicine as well as environmental health. The opportunity to research an ecological solution for disease control led me to the Pruvot Lab.
My Master’s project broadly focuses on improving wildlife health and ecological integrity in Elk Island National Park (EINP), Alberta. ElNP serves an important role in the conservation of bison, elk, moose, and deer in Canada; however, the resident moose population is sharply declining. A major contributor to moose mortality is parasitic infection with giant liver fluke (Fascioloides magna), a trematode native to North America. In collaboration with Parks Canada, I am investigating the occurrence of giant liver fluke in EINP using predictive species distribution models. My goal is to elucidate the fine-scale epidemiology of fascioloidiasis and identify transmission hotspots across the park. This research will eventually guide the implementation of efficient, targeted fluke control strategies by park management.
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During my free time, I play on the University of Calgary Women's Tennis Team and serve on the leadership board of the Veterinary Medicine Graduate Student's Association. I also love hiking and trail running in the Canadian Rockies.
Erin Casper
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I obtained my BSc in Biology at the University of Victoria, and during this time I was fortunate to work in various fields of wildlife biology and animal care. Upon the completion of my degree in 2017, I returned to my home province to work at the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation (AIWC), where I worked for 4 years as a certified wildlife rehabilitator (CWR) and the Hospital and Rehabilitation Manager. After years of observing the complex interactions between humans and wildlife, I became interested in pursuing further education at the intersection of wildlife conservation and veterinary medicine, leading to my current position at the Pruvot Lab.
For my Master’s thesis, I am investigating if markers in the stress response of deer mice can be used as dynamic indicators of resilience (DIORs). Individual resilience is defined as the capacity to cope with multiple stressors without loss of fitness, and while there has been extensive research in the field of stress and wildlife, methods on how to measure resilience have yet to be developed. It is well acknowledged that wildlife populations are facing a mounting number of stressors including climate change, habitat degradation, and pollutants, and as such, DIORs have the potential to be a powerful conservation tool for the management of wildlife and landscapes.
In my free time, I enjoy banding passerines and continue to offer my skills as a volunteer and on-call CWR with AIWC. I also sit as the graduate student representative for the Veterinary Science Animal Care Committee at UCalgary, where I am fortunate to exercise my passion for animal welfare in research and teaching.
Oshin Ley Garcia
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I successfully obtained my DVM at the Agrarian University of Havana (UNAH), Cuba. My academic journey was enriched through my close affiliation with the Department of Animal Health at the National Center for Animal and Plant Health (CENSA), where I was fortunate to acquire invaluable experiences. Following the completion of my degree in 2017, I assumed the role of Veterinary Epidemiologist at CENSA, collaborating on numerous national and international projects addressing threats to humans, animals, and the environment, all approached through the lens of One Health.
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Throughout my tenure, I've been deeply involved in both academia and fieldwork, serving as an Assistant Professor at the UNAH, where I had the privilege of sharing my expertise in veterinary epidemiology with students. Moreover, I further enriched my knowledge by serving as a teaching assistant for the Epi course at the undergraduate level at UCVM.
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Additionally, I earned a Master's degree in Integrated Management of Health Risk from the University of Liege, Belgium. During that period, I undertook an internship in Senegal where I conducted research on Antimicrobial Resistance in the poultry value chain, engaging stakeholders. My profound interest lies in studying animal diseases on a population scale and exploring the interconnection of health issues to solve complex health challenges. This interest led me to join the Pruvot Lab. For my Ph.D. thesis, I plan to increase surveillance to better understand the transmission of infectious diseases circulating between invasive wild boars and domestic pigs in Alberta, Canada. This initiative holds vital importance in mitigating disease risks and providing crucial support to the livestock industry, rural communities, and producers.
Luis G Salazar
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I am a DVM with a One Health and Infectious Diseases Masters. I am particularly interested in the study of disease dynamics at the wildlife-livestock-human interface as well as science communication for policy development. For my Ph.D. research, I am investigating the interactions between the invasive wild pig population and livestock (cattle and domestic pigs) in Alberta. I am quantifying the proximity between the wild and domestic interfaces at province and farm levels. With these results I can predict future disease outbreaks and transmission dynamics between wild pigs and livestock through mathematical modeling.
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My goal is to be part of an efficient wildlife health surveillance system and research to better manage wildlife, increase public health, and conservation. In my free time I like to dance and play Swing Jazz music, spend time with my dog, and practice my calisthenics abilities.
Laura Budd
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I am a veterinarian who is broadly interested in figuring out how people, and their domestic animals, can more sustainably exist as members of healthy ecosystems alongside wild animals. I am particularly interested in the ecological factors that drive disease dynamics at the wildlife-livestock-human interface. I have a B.A. In Biology from Middlebury College in Vermont and received my DVM degree from the University of California, Davis. I have a variety of field and laboratory experience in ecology, wildlife conservation, and wildlife medicine both within the United States and internationally. Additionally, I have experience in conservation and One Health outreach. Most recently I worked at the Saint Louis Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Medicine as a wildlife veterinarian. Prior to that I spent five years in private, clinical practice in Oregon and Wisconsin.
My PhD thesis will focus on understanding how different agricultural land-use practices impact the community ecology and disease dynamics of wildlife populations close to livestock. Specifically, my research will focus on the wild small mammal community at the University of Calgary WA Ranches, a 19,000-acre cow-calf ranch near Calgary, and their different crop & pasture management practices.
My goal is to build a skillset, adaptable to different landscapes and species, to understand and predict how different land management choices may increase or mitigate disease spillover risk to or from wildlife. Such a skillset will be important for protecting endangered wildlife species, protecting livestock health, or protecting humans from zoonotic disease spillover.
Devin Fitzpatrick
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I am an ecologist and conservationist currently pursuing a PhD with the Pruvot Lab. Following a Bachelor of Environmental Studies at the University of Waterloo, ON, Canada, I completed a Master of Science in Conservation at the University of Stirling, Scotland.
During my MSc degree, I had the opportunity to intern with the Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux in Gabon. I carried out a project assessing the spread and impact of an invasive species of fire ant in Lopé National Park and developed an action plan with park staff for monitoring, containment, and eradication. Here, I discovered my passion for using research as a tool to inform evidence-based conservation.
I then went on to pursue a Master of Research at the University of the Highlands and Islands, Scotland. My MRes project examined the spatial ecology of the invasive grey squirrel, which threatens the sympatric native red squirrel through disease transmission, and outlined recommendations to improve eradication efforts by the Scottish Wildlife Trust.
I am now studying the spatial ecology of invasive wild boar for my PhD. Wild boar threaten ecosystem and public health in Alberta, causing severe destruction to wildlife habitat and crops and acting as a reservoir for pathogens. My research aims to fill gaps in knowledge surrounding the species’ distribution, density, and space use, which currently hinder effective population and disease control in the province.
