The Upstate Institute at Colgate University and will sponsor an Environmental Studies Brown Bag presentation by Melissa Prusinski on Friday, March 6 at 12:20 pm in the ALANA Cultural Center.
Melissa Prusinski is a Research Scientist and Laboratory Supervisor with the New York State Department of Health, Bureau of Communicable Disease Control, Vector Ecology Laboratory, in Albany, NY. Over the past 15 years, her research interests have focused on the epidemiology, vector biology and landscape ecology of diseases transmitted by ticks and other arthropods. She serves as Chief Coordinator of the NYSDOH Statewide Tick-borne Pathogen Surveillance Initiative, and was head of the former NYSDOH Tick Identification Service from 2001-2011. Her published research can be found in peer-reviewed journals including: Emerging Infectious Diseases, Environmental Entomology, Ecosphere and the Journal of Medical Entomology.
Her presentation on March 6 at Colgate will provide an overview of tick ecology and current epidemiological trends in tick-borne disease in New York. She will also discuss recent research focusing on the environmental factors and mechanisms promoting growth and spread of vector tick populations in Upstate New York.