Graduate Students

Michelle Rosen

Masters student, associated with the Center for Wildlife Health

Email: rosenmi1@utk.edu

I am currently studying the spread of ticks and tick-borne pathogens in Tennessee, with Dr. Graham Hickling as my major advisor. Deer play an important role in the distribution and spread of ticks and their various pathogens, so our current project involves the collection of ticks from hunter harvested deer from around the state. We are testing these ticks for various pathogens, including Borrelia burgdorferi (the agent of Lyme disease), Anaplasma phagocytophilum (Human Granulocytic Anaplasmosis), Babesia spp., Rickettsia rickettsii (Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever), and Ehrlichia spp. (Ehrlichiosis). The goal of this project is to better define which ticks are prevalent in Tennessee and what risk they may pose to human and companion animal health.

Background: As native born Michigander, I attended Michigan State University for my Bachelor’s of Science in Fisheries and Wildlife. In 2003, I became a member of the Catskill Outdoor Education Corps, an AmeriCorps program in upstate New York. I spent the summer developing, maintaining, and restoring outdoor education facilities.  I planted trees, performed disaster relief; taught kayaking, aquatic ecology, and initiatives to students pre-K through high school as well as worked with other non-profit organizations. The following summer, I worked on a weir in the Becharof National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to determine the escapement of Pacific Salmon on a tributary of the Naknek River. During the fall of 2004, I assisted the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Disease Laboratory in checking deer heads for Tuberculosis and Chronic Wasting Disease. In 2005, I began working as a field research and lab technician on a Lyme disease ecology study to determine the emergence of Lyme disease in Michigan. And, in 2006 I traveled to rural Ireland for a semester to work with the Tochár Valley Rural Community Network. I worked with two different communities; one to facilitate the opening of a youth center and the second to establish a plan for creating interpretive and educational trails throughout the community.  In my free time I like to hike, rock climb, and listen to good music.