Laboratory Focus

My laboratory conducts research that integrates Conservation Physiology and One Health frameworks to address the global urgency of understanding how physiological and behavioral systems mediate and respond to anthropogenic environmental change. To this end, my laboratory develops and/or optimizes the assays and approaches to quantify biomarkers of health across taxa (humans and various wildlife) and levels of biological organization (genomes to phenomes to populations). Principles of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBRP) and community-engaged research (CEnR) are central pillars of my investigations of human health issues related to contaminant exposures and other environmental stressors, particularly among marginalized and indigenous populations. My research program is notably global in scope, with a strong emphasis on the Global South, including long-term collaborations in Latin America, among others. By bridging the gap between North American and South American research through lab exchanges and international networks, my research facilitates discoveries that improve health outcomes of humans, wildlife, and the health of their shared environments on a hemispheric scale.

The combined approaches of One Health and Conservation Physiology are synergistic, enabling research discoveries and solutions relevant to human, wildlife, and environmental health in a changing world. Wildlife and other captive animal research is essential to my more human-centric research aims. My collaborative research with animal models and humans has facilitated the development of novel sentinel species, innovative techniques, and mechanistic insights. This approach has been buttressed by multi-institutional, interdisciplinary, and multi-national collaborative teams of researchers who share a common goal of tackling the most urgent threats to health of wildlife, humans, and their shared environment. International collaborations have been promoted by research and mentoring positions I have secured in Brazil at the University of São Paulo (São Paulo Excellence Chair, Professor in the Graduate Program in Ecology), Instituo Butantan (Visiting Scientist), the Center for Amazonian Research (INPA; Researcher) and the Instituto Technologia Vale (ITV, Collaborating Researcher), and in Argentina through their National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET, Investigador) and Regional Center for Scientific Research and Technology Transfer of La Rioja (CRILAR, Investigador).

Research Support

Over the past 28 years, my research been fully supported by diverse external sources including domestic and foreign agencies and foundations. Research funds garnered as PI or co-PI across my career total ~$30M.

One Health specific research projects in the US have been primarily supported by the NIH (e.g., 4 R01, 2 R15, and several NIH INBRE and NIH CoBRE awards and contracts) and foundational support (e.g., 2 Flinn Foundation, GreatLand Trust awards). In Brazil, this line of research has been supported primarily by The Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and to a lesser extent through the São Paulo Research Foundation.

Conservation Physiology specific research grants have been funded by numerous US agencies, including the Department of Defense, US Department of Agriculture, National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Further significant support has been provided by foundations including Disney Conservation Fund, among others. Brazilian support for my investigations of Conservation Physiology has come through São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), and the Purple Martin Conservation Association, among others.