Vanessa Ezenwa

Vanessa Ezenwa is a Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University. Ezenwa’s research focuses on the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases in wild animal populations. Her work combines perspectives from animal behavior, ecology, evolution, and immunology to understand how interactions occurring between individual hosts and their parasites and pathogens translate to larger-scale epidemiological patterns. Ezenwa earned a B.A. in Biology from Rice University and PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University. Before joining the Yale faculty in 2021, she was a Georgia Athletic Association Professor of Ecology and Infectious Diseases at the University of Georgia. Ezenwa has received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, a Zoetis Award for Veterinary Research Excellence, and a Fulbright Scholar Award. She is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Ecological Society of America.