Chelsea Wood is an Associate Professor in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. She is a leader in the ecology of parasites and pathogens in freshwater and marine ecosystems, the ecological drivers of parasite transmission, and human impacts on parasites in a changing world. Wood discusses the fascinating world of parasites, their “Rube Goldberg-esque” life-cycles, and her recent study – the world’s largest and longest dataset of wildlife parasite abundance – that suggests parasites may be especially vulnerable to a changing climate.

Chelsea Wood is W.M. Keck Foundation grant recipient for her work with historical reconstruction of infectious disease prevalence in wildlife.