WDA Student Chapters

Objectives

“Our mission is to acquire, disseminate, and apply knowledge of the health and diseases of wild animals in relation to their biology, conservation, and interactions with humans and domestic animals.”

The objectives of the Student Chapters of the Wildlife Disease Association include the mission of the WDA, and more specifically aim at:

• Educating students interested in wildlife health and disease about the profession and career opportunities, job qualifications and education, externships, volunteer, and research opportunities

• Enhancing the skills of students interested in wildlife health and disease through lectures, workshops, conferences, field trips

• Connecting students interested in wildlife health and disease to mentors in WDA through the faculty advisor and guest lecturers

WDA Student Chapters, which have been created by motivated students from North America and Europe are steadily increasing in numbers:

European Student Chapter of the Wildlife Disease Association

European Student Chapter of the Wildlife Disease Association
Promoting Shared Knowledge

Chair: Josanne Verhagen
Co-Chair:  Miklos Guyranecz
Workshop Coordinator: Leslie Reperant

The European Student Chapter of the Wildlife Disease Association was created in October 2005 and counts today more than 92 members from 26 countries! The mission of the EWDA Student Chapter is to promote shared knowledge between students and established researchers, and several tools and activities have been developed to work towards this goal.

Tool #1: the EWDA discussion E-list (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EWDA_discussion), created to discuss ideas and topics related to wildlife health, disseminate news and knowledge on diseases in wild animals, and announce conferences, and job and education opportunities. Open to students and non students, EWDA members and non members, it aims at creating a bridge between students and professional researchers sharing the same interest.

Tool #2: the EWDA electronic journal club (http://ewdaejc.blogspot.com) to compile a list of most recent references on wildlife diseases and disease ecology issues as they get published in the literature.

Tool #3: the EWDA Student Chapter Mentor Network (http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pau5Inp6RSL6bvjYK_PP0YQ&gid=0) to maintain and provide students a list of faculties and wildlife health researchers across Europe, including details concerning their research interests and contact information.

Event #1: the EWDA Student Workshop organized in a European country every second year alternating with the EWDA conference on a theme related to wildlife health, to give an opportunity to wildlife disease students to get acquainted with applied state-of-the-art scientific reasoning and meet professional researchers excelling in the field of wildlife disease investigation in Europe.

Event #2: the EWDA Student Mixer organized the day before the first day of the EWDA conference to connect students and develop international relationships across Europe and beyond.

Event #3: Country-Based EWDA One-Day Student Symposia to be organized by Country Representatives in their home country on a theme related to wildlife health, to give an opportunity to wildlife disease students to meet and share the experience of wildlife health experts and fellow wildlife health students of their home country.

Lastly, to further promote shared knowledge across Europe, the EWDA Student Chapter is developing a network of Country Representatives whose role is to promote the activities proposed by the Chapter and the involvement of wildlife health students in their countries.

Please visit our website to learn more about the EWDA Student Chapter, its objectives and activities, and become a member! www.ewda.org/studentchapter.html

Latest Progress Report

Oregon State University Graduate and Professional Student Chapter of the Wildlife Disease Association

Co-Presidents:
Brianna Beechler
OSU CVM, Dept of Biomedical Sciences, 310 Dryden Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331; breebeechler@gmail.com
Heather Broughton, 1090 14th Avenue, Albany, OR 97321; broughth@onid.orst.edu
Erin Gorsich, OSU CVM, Dept of Biomedical Sciences, 310 Dryden Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331; eringorsich@gmail.com

Secretary-Treasurer: Kadie Anderson, OSU CVM, 105 Magruder Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331; anderkad@onid.orst.edu

Faculty Advisor: Robert Bildfell, DVM, DACVP; Associate Professor, OSU CVM, 105 Magruder Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331; rob.bildfell@oregonstate.edu

Chapter Mission Statement:
We aim to provide educational and collaborative opportunities on current and emerging issues in wildlife disease for both graduate and veterinary students, bridging the gap between veterinary medicine and research.

Number of Members: 18

Student Chapter of the Wildlife Disease Association at the University of Arizona

President: Victoria Olsen-Mikitowicz; vikimiki@email.arizona.edu

Vice President: Astrid Huseby; aehusby@email.arizona.edu

President Elect (2nd Vice President): Eleanor Cota; cota2007email.arizona.edu

Secretary: Tony Leavitt; Leavitt@email.arizona.edu

Treasurer: Atia Manning; atiam@email.arizona.edu

Faculty Advisor: Noble Jackson, Lecturer, Department of Veterinary Science and Microbiology,University of Arizona; noblej@email.arizona.edu

Chapter Mission Statement:Study wildlife diseases and explore job opportunities in the Wildlife Disease Field.

Number of Members: 32

Western College of Veterinary Medicine’s Chapter of the Wildlife Disease Association

Chapter Founder: Heather Fenton, WCVM Class of 2008
   President - Angela Oranchuk
   Vice President - Jasmine Dhillon
   President-Elect - Evan Crawford
  Secretary - Tyra Dickson

The WCVM’s Chapter of the WDA is in its infancy here at the University of Saskatchewan, but interest is growing. The chapter started out in 2006 with a guest lecture by Dr. Todd Shury, the wildlife disease specialist for Parks Canada. The events for the 2006-2007 school year included: a presentation by Dr. Brett Elkin on wildlife disease issues in the Northwest Territories, a presentation on Common Diseases of Fish by Dr. Cheryl Sangster, a seminar on Gyps vultures in India and their unfortunate circumstances due to diclofenac poisoning by Dr. Johan Lindsjo, and a meet and greet session with Dr. Leslie Dierauf from the US Geological Survey. The chapter has really brought together individuals with a common interest in wildlife disease issues and their strong correlation to public and ecosystem health. We hope to expand our activities in the upcoming years to include CWD testing wet labs, wildlife histology rounds and the involvement of graduate students and students of other faculties. One of the objectives of our student chapter includes encouraging veterinary students to pursue their interests in wildlife medicine. Establishing opportunities to interact with mentors in the field is integral to the accomplishment of this goal. All of our speakers have been very inspirational and encouraging which has been a keystone in the establishment and promotion of the chapter.

Palouse Student Chapter of the Wildlife Disease Association

President: Katherine Gailbreath katherine@vetmed.wsu.edu
Vice President: Danielle Nelson danielled@vetmed.wsu.edu
Secretary : Madelynn Fell mfell@vetmed.wsu.edu
Treasurer:Sarah Jo McIntyre sarah@vetmed.wsu.edu

Chapter Mission Statement: The mission of the Palouse Student Chapter of the Wildlife Disease Association is to facilitate communication, mentoring, and collaboration between students, researchers, clinicians, field professionals, and support staff from various fields of science in order to advance understanding of wildlife health, conservation, and disease and to educate students about career opportunities.

The chapter was created in March of 2007, and has approximately 20 members from Washington State University and the University of Idaho. Members include veterinary students, undergraduate and graduate students from a variety of departments and programs. Faculty and staff members also regularly attend lectures and participate in meetings. A major goal for the chapter is to provide a venue through which students, faculty and staff from otherwise separate programs can interact and discuss topics of common interest related to wildlife. Through these discussions we hope to gain a better understanding of the complex relationships between factors that affect wildlife health including population dynamics, habitat, nutrition, pathogens, and host animal defense. To date we have invited guest speakers from the local universities to present lectures on their research with wildlife species including dolphins, vultures, grizzly bears, and blue duikers. We intend to broaden the scope of subjects and speakers in the future and to organize field trips and wet-lab events. Ultimately these activities will enrich our connections to the local community, the greater community of wildlife professionals, and the animals that share our world.

Latest Progress Report

University of Georgia Student Chapter of the Wildlife Disease Association

President: Steven Kubiski, skubiski@uga.edu
Vice-President: Kimberly Kanapeckas, simbavet@uga.edu
Secretary: Jason Norman, jnorman1@uga.edu
Treasurer: Joseph Conrad, conradj@uga.edu

The UGA Student Chapter of the WDA has four objectives :

• To provide students with opportunities for involvement in wildlife medicine, wildlife disease research and conservation medicine. 
• To facilitate an understanding of the complex relationship among ecosystem health, animal health and human health and how this relates to agriculture, public health and the different aspects of veterinary medicine. 
• To introduce the chance to examine the wildlife-livestock interface and its importance in food animal medicine both locally and internationally. 
• To take advantage of the WDA’s extensive student networks, conference and workshop opportunities, faculty mentorship, and externship database. 

Colorado State University Student Chapter of the Wildlife Disease Association

President: Stacey Elmore, selmore@colostate.edu
Vice President: Christy Wyckoff, acwyckoff@gmail.com
Secretary-Treasurer: Elizabeth Harp, eharp@lamar.colostate.edu

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Kathryn (Kate) P. Huyvaert, kate.huyvaert@colostate.edu

Chapter Mission Statement:
Our mission, as the CSU Student Chapter of the Wildlife Disease Association, is to increase student participation and opportunities in the field of wildlife health and disease ecology through education, communication, and collaboration with local and global research and education communities.

Visit the Colorado State University Chapter Website

Texas A&M University student chapter of the Wildlife Disease Association

1. To bring together students, researchers, veterinarians, and others working in the area of wildlife health and disease.
2. To educate students interested in working with wildlife about job opportunities, job qualifications, and education.
3. To connect students with mentors.

 
Faculty Advisor  Dr. Christine Budke
Degrees:  BA, DVM., PhD
Position, Research interests: Assistant Professor, Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Epidemiology.

Address: College of Veterinary Medicine
                Texas A&M University, MS 4458
               College Station, TX  77843-4458

Telephone: 979-458-2154
Email: cbudke@cvm.tamu.edu

Officers:
President:  Pam Ferro

Vice President: Melanie Smith

Create a Student Chapter of the Wildlife Disease Association!

We have developed a power point slide show to introduce the WDA and WDA student chapters to wildlife health students. View it here and learn everything you need to know!

Want to do more?
Become a WDA student ambassador by presenting this power point slide show (or pdf version) to students from your University and actively take part in the promotion of the Wildlife Disease Association!

Guidelines and forms
You can find the guidelines for the creation of a Student Chapter, the creation / leader information update form and the progress report form here

For further information, please contact Terra Kelly, the Student Member on Council.