Kate Smith

Consulting Senior Scientist, Wildlife Trust

Conservation medicine, public health, environmental policy and global ecology are major influences in Kate Smith's scientific research. As Consulting Senior Scientist at Wildlife Trust and Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Brown University, Kate's research focuses on emerging infectious disease, their implications for human health and native wildlife.

Under her guidance, Kate's team at Brown University focuses on existing research in the fields of conservation medicine, disease biogeography and species extinction to develop solutions to address critical issues for ecosystem, human and wildlife health. While advising undergraduates, graduate students and a postdoctoral student at Brown University, Kate also teaches a course in Conservation Medicine. At Wildlife Trust, Kate leads research efforts on wildlife trade and examines the role of disease in species extinction, the global distribution of human infectious agents, and most recently the potential for global wildlife trade to facilitate disease emergence.

Kate earned her B.S. in Biology from the University of New Mexico and Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology from the University of California Santa Barbara - both with honors. She conducted postdoctoral research as a David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellow with Dr. Peter Daszak, President of Wildlife Trust.

Kate's research has been published in various prestigious journals such as Science, Ecology, Conservation Biology and Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. She is the recipient of numerous honors including dissertation awards from the University of California Office of the President and American Association of University Women. Kate is a review editor for Wildlife Trust's journal EcoHealth and member of the scientific advisory committee for EcoHealth DIVERSITAS. She has participated in various NCEAS working groups on infectious disease ecology and has organized international conference symposia on the topic.