•  Tick borne diseases: Understanding the roles that various host species play in determining disease risks to humans. ). 
• Conservation of the Allegheny woodrat (Neotoma magister) by studying the causes of its decline, with special focus on raccoon roundworm (Baylisascaris procyonis). The Allegheny woodrat is a rodent native to cliff edges, caves and talus slopes of the Appalachian Mountains. It has been disappearing from the northern portions of its range for close to 30 years and my research involves studying the importance of various factors believed to have affected the population biology of this species. Most of my research has focused on the importance of raccoon roundworm, a nematode parasite of raccoons. This parasite produces environmentally resistant eggs that are extremely pathogenic if ingested by non-raccoon hosts. I am involved with a group of wildlife biologists throughout the woodrat’s range who are attempting to reverse the decline of this species through management efforts.

A more recent interest, in close collaboration with my students:

• The relationship between tick loads and intestinal parasite loads. We are investigating whether an immune response to intestinal parasites makes the host more or less susceptible to tick parasitism.
• The effects of urbanization on intestinal parasite diversity in Sciurids (squirrels and chipmunks). We have been comparing parasite diversity and loads between urban and rural populations of squirrels and chipmunks in an attempt to understand how the built environment impacts these organisms.