NEWS

Julie Rushmore

Robert C. Anderson Memorial Award 2015

Julie Rushmore, a recent doctoral graduate in ecology, uses behavioral observations from a community of wild chimpanzees in Kibale National Park, Uganda, to examine how disease-causing pathogens are transmitted among the chimps and to evaluate the effectiveness of various disease intervention strategies. Apes are highly social and endangered animals that have been devastated by disease in recent years. Rushmore combined her daily observations of wild chimpanzee social interactions in the field with computational approaches for building and analyzing social contact networks. She developed complex simulation models of pathogen spread on chimpanzee social networks to test the efficacy of different control strategies that can readily be incorporated into realistic models that predict the likelihood of outbreaks, and what can be done to control them. Rushmore is now working towards a DVM degree in UGA’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

Previous Awards

James L. Carmon Scholarship Award 2013