Understanding the role of wildlife hosts in emerging infectious disease (and disease impacts to these populations) necessitates a multidisciplinary approach and partnerships with veterinarians, quantitative ecologists, land managers, policy makers, and stakeholders. The Christensen Lab's outreach program seeks to build capacity and coordination for state and federal wildlife agencies on emerging wildlife health issues. Specifically, we are interested in regional and national efforts to improve the efficiency of disease programs through improved communication, surveillance, testing, monitoring, research, and management, and the ability to proactively address disease issues across jurisdictions by understanding patterns of emerging diseases and spatial-temporal risk factors. Much of this work is done with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) where Dr. Sonja Christensen serves as the AFWA Fish and Wildlife Health Coordinator.
