What We Do
The National Wildlife Health Center helps to mitigate wildlife disease threats by monitoring and assessing the impact of disease; transferring technology for disease prevention and control; and providing guidance, training and on-site assistance for reducing the impacts of wildlife diseases on multiple sectors, including agriculture, industry, tourism, and recreation.
Our mission
Advancing wildlife health science for the benefit of humans, animals, and the environment.
Background and Activities
The USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) is dedicated to wildlife disease detection, control, and prevention in the United States and contributes to public safety and natural resource management by studying diseases that threaten the U.S. public health, agricultural, economic, and outdoor recreation sectors.
Each year, wildlife managers across the United States are confronted with sick and dead animals, frequently on a large scale. In addition to their potential impact on wildlife populations, wildlife diseases can also impact the health of humans and agricultural animals and can be costly to the U.S. economy through their impact on agriculture, tourism, and recreational activities. Minimizing potential harms caused by wildlife diseases depends on situational awareness, effective tools, and timely intervention. The National Wildlife Health Center helps to mitigate wildlife disease threats by monitoring and assessing the impact of disease; transferring technology for disease prevention and control; and providing guidance, training and on-site assistance for reducing the impacts of wildlife diseases on multiple sectors, including agriculture, industry, tourism, and recreation.
Scientists at the NWHC possess a wide array of expertise and capabilities, including wildlife biology, ecology, statistics, quantitative modeling, epidemiology, veterinary medicine, microbiology, toxicology, and molecular biology. For more details, see the NWHC Organization Chart.
The NWHC operates at the main campus located in Madison, Wisconsin, as well as the Honolulu Field Station (HFS), which serves partners in Hawaii and the Pacific Region. The buildings and laboratories are designed exclusively for combatting wildlife diseases. Due to the mobility of wildlife and the potential for spread of disease, timely and accurate determination of causes of wildlife illness and death is a prerequisite to achieving effective disease control and prevention. National Wildlife Refuge personnel, law enforcement agents, state natural resource agency biologists, and others send wildlife samples to the NWHC for diagnostic examination. The Center has a staff of over seventy scientists and support personnel who offer services and conduct activities to help our partners detect, prevent, and control wildlife diseases.
Center field investigations provide immediate technical assistance to field personnel who find sick and dead wildlife. NWHC personnel provide instructions on collection, preservation, and shipment of specimens for laboratory examination. Assistance is provided for disease problems that involve migratory birds, endangered species, and other wildlife that live on Federal, State, and Tribal lands throughout the United States.
In addition to our diagnostic work, the NWHC is a world leader in developing research solutions to the most significant wildlife diseases, such as avian influenza, chronic wasting disease, white-nose syndrome in bats, coral disease, and other emerging diseases that pose significant public health and economic risks. This includes playing a key role in conducting surveillance, detecting novel pathogens, developing rapid diagnostic tests, and designing methods to control these diseases. The research conducted at NWHC is developed collaboratively with partners such as USDA, CDC, DOD, and Tribal, state, and federal natural resource agencies.
Employment Opportunities
Check out our Employment, Externship, and Volunteer Opportunities.