Christopher Cleveland

Chris Cleveland is an Assistant Professor with the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, in the Department of Population Health at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine. His research focuses on wildlife diseases and molecular parasitology with particular foci on parasite life-cycles, transmission dynamics, and disease management and surveillance. This work also entails understanding the effects of anthropogenically driven climate and landscape change has on the epidemiology of wildlife diseases and associated vectors. Through collaborations, his research has involved Guinea worm eradication efforts among wildlife and domestic animals in Chad and Ethiopia, Africa, as well as numerous research projects throughout North America involving zoonotic helminths, vectors, and vector borne pathogens. Techniques in his lab involve field collections and laboratory methods, including classical parasitological techniques (host trapping, necropsy, proper fixation, slide making, standard microscopy), modern molecular techniques (DNA extraction, PCR, real-time PCR, and Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification), and wildlife population techniques (spatial ecology and GPS collars, occupancy modeling and game camera data collection).

Specific areas of study include:

Parasitic and infectious diseases of wildlife Vector-borne pathogens and zoonoses Surveillance, management and control strategies for Neglected Tropical Diseases Climate and landscape effects on wildlife diseases

May 2022