People – Martin Krkosek

Martin Krkosek

I am an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Marine Epidemiology. My group works on population dynamics in the areas of conservation, disease, and fisheries via fieldwork, laboratory experiments, and mathematical modeling. I run a long-term field program on salmon in British Columbia on salmon and their diseases in partnership with the Salmon Coast Field Station. We collaborate with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and several NGOs including the Pacific Salmon Foundation, the David Suzuki Foundation, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the Sea Shepherd Society. I am an Associate Editor for Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B and co-Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.

Jaime Grimm

I am a PhD student working with Andrew Bateman (Pacific Salmon Foundation), Kristi Miller-Saunders (Fisheries and Oceans Canada) and MK. I’m broadly interested in aquatic conservation and developing evidence-based conservation policy. I’m currently working on characterizing the dispersal and distributions of fish pathogens originating from fish farms in coastal British Columbia through field research and environmental DNA analysis. Prior to beginning my PhD, I completed an MSc on invasion ecology at McGill University and worked as a researcher for the Wildlife Conservation Society Canada.

Robert Hechler

I’m a PhD student working on eDNA and eRNA analysis of salmon health with Kristi Miller-Saunders (Fisheries and Oceans Canada) and MK. I am broadly interested inunderstanding how species and communities respond to changing environmental conditions. My PhD research uses molecular tools to investigate the impacts of salmon farm pathogens on wild Pacific salmon and coastal marine communities as well as empirical analyses of nonlinear dynamics of fish populations. Before beginning my PhD, I obtained my MSc at McGill University where I worked on developing environmental DNA and RNA methods.

Erik Curtis

I am a PhD student interested in the epidemiology and population ecology of Pacific salmon, as well as the ecology of infectious diseases. In my PhD research, I am investigating the prevalence of co-infection in juvenile salmon. I’m also using eDNA metabarcoding to examine the coastal marine community concurrent with juvenile salmon migration and salmon farm activity. Prior to joining the MK lab, I studied at the University of Notre Dame, majoring in Biology and Math, where I examined the fate and transport of eDNA in experimental streams.

Kyra Ford
I am a MSc student working on the epidemiology of lamprey-like lesions in juvenile sockeye migrating from the Fraser River and along the east side of Vancouver Island.

Sophie Hoye-Pacholek
I am a MSc student working on the effects of climate variability on disease invasion in experimental epidemics of a Daphnia-microsporidian host-parasite system.

Alumni (Grad Students & Postdocs)

Caroline Glass (MEnvSci on historical ecology of river morphology and salmon habitat in the Kingcome River). Now executive director at Salmon Coast Society.

Madeline Jarvis-Cross (PhD on quantitative disease ecology). Now a postdoc at UC Davis.

Leila Krichel (MSc on climate variability effects on disease dynamics). Now lead of field research at Salmon Coast Field Station.

Kate Medcalf (MSc on sea lice coinfection with microparasites in juvenile Pacific salmon). Now a professional musician in Vancouver.

Ariel Greiner (PhD on modeling coral reef dynamics and conservation). Now a NSERC postdoctoral fellow at Penn State and Oxford.

Dylan Shea (PhD on eDNA of salmon diseases). Now a postdoctoral fellow at NORCE Research in Norway.

Devin Kirk (PhD on infectious disease and climate change). Now a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University.

Kiran Wadhawan (MSc on salmon and sea lice modeling). Now a PhD student in disease ecology and evolution at Edinburgh.

Sean Godwin (PhD on ecology of salmon and sea lice). Did a Liber Ero Postdoctoral Fellow at Dalhousie University and is moving to UC Davis as an Assistant Professor.

Luke Rogers (PhD on theoretical population dynamics). Now a research scientist at Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Simon Fraser University.

Chris Blackford (MSc on marine protected area design). Now a researcher at Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Emily Darling (Banting Postdoc on coral reef conservation). Now a research scientist at Wildlife Conservation Society.

Mack Bartlett (MSc on kokanee salmon, 2017). Now manager of Cedar Coast Field Station in Clayoquot Sound.

Pepijn Luijckx (Postdoc on Daphnia epidemiology, 2017). Now a Lecturer at Trinity College, Dublin.

Andrew Bateman (Postdoc on salmon ecology, 2016). Did a Banting postdoc at UVic with Chris Darimont, and is now a research associate with the Pacific Salmon Foundation and Raincoast Conservation Foundation.

Stephanie Peacock (PhD on salmon and sea lice, 2016). Did a Banting Postdoc at U Calgary and now a research scientist with the Pacific Salmon Foundation.

Melissa Orobko (MSc on fishery bioeconomics, 2016). Now a PhD student at SFU with Isabelle Cote.

Stefan Meyer (PhD on NZ sea lion population dynamics, 2015). Now a bioinformatician and modeler at AbacusBio, New Zealand.

Lindsey Ogston (MSc on marine viruses of salmon, 2014). Now an environmental stewardship coordinator for the Tsleil Waututh Nation.

Gayle Sommerville (MSc on Paua population dynamics, 2012). Now a PhD student at the University of Western Australia.