Bio

I am a disease ecologist working at the interface of Ecology, Epidemiology, and One Health. My research seeks to understand how environmental changes influence the dynamics of infectious diseases and zoonotic pathogens, particularly in avian, rodent, bat, livestock, and human systems.

Although my research spans multiple host systems, birds have been my primary study system because they provide exceptional opportunities to investigate host–pathogen interactions. Their remarkable ecological diversity, broad geographic distributions, extensive movements, and frequent interactions with wildlife, livestock, and humans make them excellent models for understanding the ecological and evolutionary drivers of infectious disease dynamics and zoonotic pathogen transmission.

My primary research interest is investigating the ecological factors that determine pathogen transmission risk across human-modified landscapes. To address these questions, I study how landscape changes influence host physiology, nutritional condition, and susceptibility to infection, as well as how shifts in species composition and community structure affect pathogen circulation through mechanisms such as disease dilution and amplification.

I am also interested in understanding how proximity between wildlife and livestock influences pathogen transmission dynamics, evaluating both host susceptibility and epidemiological connectivity among populations. In this context, I apply approaches from spatial network analysis and landscape epidemiology to investigate how pathogens spread across natural, agricultural, and urban environments.

Another major area of my research focuses on the effects of ecological restoration on ecosystem health and infectious disease risk. Although restoration is widely recognized for its benefits to biodiversity and ecosystem services, its consequences for pathogen dynamics remain poorly understood. Therefore, I seek to identify the ecological conditions under which environmental recovery may either reduce or increase the risk of disease emergence, persistence, and transmission, contributing to integrated conservation and public health strategies.

My research integrates ecological, epidemiological, physiological, and analytical approaches, with a strong emphasis on quantitative methods, statistical modeling, data science, and large-scale data analytics to better understand complex processes affecting human, animal, and environmental health.