Kezia Manlove

Kezia Manlove is an Associate Professor in the Department of Wildland Resources. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biological modeling from Saint Olaf College, a master’s degree in statistics from Montana State University, and a PhD in biology from Penn State. Kezia studies the interface between wildlife movement, pathogen transmission, and predation, and she is helping define an ecological subdomain focused on animal-animal encounters. Her work bridges field and analytical domains, including field efforts to study big game diseases such as Chronic Wasting Disease in mule deer and Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae-associated pneumonia in bighorn sheep, as well as analytical efforts to develop integrated models describing animal physiology and movement. Kezia currently co-lead a national research program encompassing 11 academic institutions and two federal agencies that is studying pathogen transmission in free-ranging deer populations. Through this program, she and her research partners are working to uncover the genetic, physiological, and fitness effects of SARS-CoV-2 and chronic wasting disease on deer. Kezia’s research is funded by NSF, USDA, USGS, NPS, and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, as well as various NGOs. Her research has informed policy around wildlife disease management at state and national scales.