This week (January 29) Tony Goldberg of the School of Veterinary Medicine will speak on “Discovering New Pathogens in Wisconsin & Beyond.”

He writes:

"The race is on to discover the world’s pathogens, driven by new diagnostic technologies and unprecedented access to remote locations. These technologies and field methods are revolutionizing our understanding of the diversity and distribution of wildlife diseases worldwide.

"This talk describes how such an approach has revealed novel pathogens and their ecological transmission pathways in diverse wildlife systems in Wisconsin and beyond, sometimes by design and sometimes fortuitously. Examples from bald eagles to fish to chimpanzees highlight how the disease impacts the ecology and sustainability of wildlife populations, and how wildlife populations are evolving in response to disease threats. Adoption of such approaches is sorely needed in today’s rapidly changing global environment.”

Of particular interest to me is the description last fall of a new virus found in bald eagles living along the Wisconsin River. It’ll be good stuff.

https://projects.jsonline.com/news/2017/12/15/the-hunt-for-a-future-killer.html

https://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/features/the-disease-detective/

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/14/the-smell-will-knock-you-off-your-feet-mass-mussel-die-offs-baffle-scientists

https://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/goldberglab/

About the Speaker:

Dr. Goldberg is Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Wisconsin Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, John D. MacArthur Research Chair at UW-Madison, and Associate Director for Research at the UW-Madison Global Health Institute.

He received his B.A. from Amherst College (1990, Biology and English), his Ph.D. from Harvard University (1996, Biological Anthropology), and his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and MS in Epidemiology from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2000).

Dr. Goldberg studies the ecology, epidemiology and evolution of infectious disease. His research combines field and laboratory studies to understand how disease-causing agents are transmitted among hosts, across complex landscapes, and over time. He combines these techniques with methods from the social sciences to understand the root drivers of disease emergence in real world settings.

Dr. Goldberg’s strives to discover generalized mechanisms of pathogen transmission, emergence, and evolution. His overarching goal is to improve the health and wellbeing of animals and people while helping to conserve the rapidly changing ecosystems we share.