Dr. Pilar Fernandez is an Assistant Professor in the Allen School for Global Animal Health at Washington State University. As a disease ecologist, her research focuses on the eco-epidemiology of zoonotic diseases, and in particular, vector-borne diseases. Dr. Fernandez graduated from the University of Buenos Aires and has worked primarily on Chagas disease in Argentina, and tick-borne diseases in the northeastern United States during her time as a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University. Her main research interests are in understanding the transmission of zoonotic diseases as complex socio-ecological systems, combining methods from epidemiology and ecology. The ultimate goal of Dr. Fernandez’s research is to identify critical factors affecting pathogen transmission, to aid in the design of improved intervention strategies to alleviate the biological and socio-economic burdens of these diseases in affected communities.