Marissa Milstein

Background & Expertise

Marissa Milstein is an assistant professor in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology. She studies the ecological and socio-cultural context of pathogen spillover. For the last ten years, Dr. Milstein has served as the co-principal investigator of the Kanashen Ecosystem Health Project, a collaboration with the Waiwai, an Indigenous Amazonian community in Guyana, South America. Through this long-term collaboration, the team co-constructs research questions that focus on infectious disease transmission, wild meat and food security and sustainable resource use. She also partners with the White Earth Nation Department of Natural Resources studying issues related to protein food sovereignty and wildlife disease. She holds a MA in anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis and a DVM/PhD from the University of Minnesota.