Dr. Susan Knowles is a Wildlife Veterinary Pathologist at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center. She earned a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine and completed a residency in veterinary pathology and earned a Doctorate in Veterinary Pathology from the University of Georgia. She is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists. She joined the Center in 2013, and her interests include wildlife, aquatic, invertebrate, and toxicologic pathology and pathogen discovery. Before joining the Center, she gained a variety of experience in and around her native Maryland, performing research on the shortnose sturgeon, serving as a Veterinary Officer in the United States Public Health Service stationed at the National Institutes of Health, and working as a Natural Resources Biologist for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, where she was a member of the Fish and Wildlife Health Program and served as the Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Stranding Coordinator for the state.
Dr. Jeffrey M. Lorch is a Microbiologist at the National Wildlife Health Center. He received bachelor's degrees in Bacteriology and Wildlife Ecology and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Environmental Toxicology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Since joining the USGS, Dr. Lorch has devoted his career to investigating and diagnosing wildlife mortality events and studying emerging wildlife diseases. Presently, his work focuses on the disease ecology and management of bat white-nose syndrome and snake fungal disease, surveillance for Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (the fungus that causes salamander chytridiomycosis), and the development of molecular methods for the detection of wildlife pathogens.
