Dr. Tristan Burgess
Co-Founder, Vice President for Science and Education, Assistant Professor of Wildlife Health and Epidemiology, Center for Wildlife Studies
Adjunct Assistant Professor (Infectious Disease and Global Health), Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine
Principal Scientist, Acadia Wildlife Services
Consulting Wildlife Health Program Director, BRI
B.V.Sc. Veterinary Science, Massey University
Ph.D. Wildlife Epidemiology, University of California, Davis
Tristan is a wildlife veterinarian and epidemiologist working primarily in marine mammal health and emerging pandemic threats. His research investigates i) the ways in which health and disease can impact, or be used to measure, conservation outcomes; ii) drivers of spillover risk in emerging infectious disease and iii) the intersection of behavioral/foraging ecology and animal health.
Tristan provides field veterinary services and consults on wildlife health management for state and federal governments as well as conservation NGOs and some of the finest zoos and aquaria in the US. He has handled and worked with a wide range of captive and free-ranging wildlife from lions and Tasmanian devils to penguins, pinnipeds and sea otters.
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Marine Mammal Health and Disease
Binary Outcomes Data in Ecology and Epidemiology
Wildlife Capture and Chemical Immobilization
Wildlife Health Methods for Biologists
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Burgess TL, Braun J, Witte CL, Lamberski N, Field KJ, Allison LJ, Averill-Murray RC, Drake KK, Nussear KE, Esque TC, Rideout BA. 2021 Assessment of disease risk associated with potential removal of anthropogenic barriers to Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) population connectivity. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 57(3): 579-589.
Miller MA, Moriarty ME, Henkel L, Tinker MT, Burgess TL, Batac FI, Dodd E, Young C, Harris MD, Johnson CK. 2020. Predators, Disease, and Environmental Change in the Nearshore Ecosystem: Mortality in southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) from 1998-2012. Frontiers in Marine Science. Vol. 19
Burgess T.L., M.T. Tinker, M.A. Miller, J.L. Bodkin, M.J. Murray, L.M. Nichol, J.A. Saarinen, S. Larson, J.A. Tomoleoni, P.A. Conrad, & C.K. Johnson. 2020. Spatial epidemiological patterns suggest mechanisms of land-sea transmission for Sarcocystis neurona in a coastal marine mammal. Nature Scientific Reports 10:3683
Burgess T.L., M.T. Tinker, M. Miller, J. Bodkin, M. Murray, L. Nichol, S. Larson, J.A. Saarinen, P.A. Conrad, & C.K. Johnson. 2018. Defining the risk landscape in the context of pathogen pollution: Toxoplasma gondii in sea otters along the Pacific Rim. Royal Society Open Science (2018 5 171178).
Plourde B.T., T.L. Burgess, W.A. Eskew, T. Roth, N. Stephenson, & J. Foley. 2017. Are disease reservoirs special? Characteristics of hosts responsible for pathogen spillover. PLoS One 12(7):e0180716.
Burgess T.L., C.K. Johnson, A. Burdin, V.A. Gill, A.M. Doroff, P. Tuomi, W.A. Smith, & T. Goldstein. 2017. Brucella infection in Asian Sea Otters (Enhydra lutris lutris) on Bering Island, Russia. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 53:864–868.
Burgess T.L., C.W. Witte, & B.A. Rideout. 2017. Early-life exposures and Johne’s disease risk in zoo ruminants. Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation 30:78–85.
Miller M.A., T. L. Burgess, E. Dodd, K. Nielsen, J. Rhyan, S. Jang, B. Byrne, F. Gulland, M.J. Murray, P.A. Conrad, & W.A. Smith. 2017. Isolation and characterization of a novel marine Brucella from a southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) with granulomatous arthritis, myelitis and hepatitis. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 53:215–227.