Hon Ip
Hon Ip is a Diagnostic and Research Virologist at the National Wildlife Health Center.
As a Diagnostic and Research Virologist, I am interested in the emergence and spread of novel, introduced, and endemic viral diseases of wildlife. For example, through the National Wildlife Health Center’s long-standing program to investigate wildlife mortality events in the United States, our Diagnostic Virology Laboratory was first to detect introductions of West Nile Virus (in 1999) and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N8 (in 2014). Both of these introductions resulted in large-scale monitoring efforts that provided real-time and actionable intelligence to state and federal partners for disease response. We have also investigated periodic recurrence of Newcastle Disease in cormorants, geographic expansion of Eurasian collared doves and associated spread of pigeon paramyxovirus, and applied phylogenetic approaches to understand the diversity and transmission of viral diseases on the landscape. Since 2008 we have been studying viruses in North American bats, including coronaviruses. Following the recent emergence of COVID-19, this work provides a highly relevant framework for investigating possible impacts of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on native, North American bat species, and for more broadly characterizing the diversity of coronaviruses in North American wildlife.
Professional Experience
Diagnostic and Research Virologist at the National Wildlife Health Center
Education and Certifications
Ph. D. Molecular Parasitology. The Rockefeller University, New York, NY.
M. Sc. Microbiology and Parasitology. University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
B. Sc. Microbiology and Parasitology. University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Affiliations and Memberships*
Honorary Associate Fellow. Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Adjunct Assistant Professor. Department of Population Health Sciences, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Science and Products
Cyclic avian mass mortality in the northeastern United States is associated with a novel orthomyxovirus
Spatial and temporal patterns of avian paramyxovirus-1 outbreaks in Double-Crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) in the USA
Surveillance for zoonotic and selected pathogens in harbor seals Phoca vitulina from central California
Avian influenza virus ecology in Iceland shorebirds: intercontinental reassortment and movement
Respiratory transmission of an avian H3N8 influenza virus isolated from a harbour seal
Identification and characterization of Highlands J virus from a Mississippi sandhill crane using unbiased next-generation sequencing
West Nile Virus transmission in winter: the 2013 Great Salt Lake Bald Eagle and Eared Grebes Mortality event
Serologic evidence of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus in northern sea otters
North Atlantic migratory bird flyways provide routes for intercontinental movement of avian influenza viruses
Genetic diversity and mutation of avian paramyxovirus serotype 1 (Newcastle disease virus) in wild birds and evidence for intercontinental spread
Pathogen exposure and blood chemistry in the Washington population of northern sea otters (Enhydra lutris kenyoni)
Genomic analysis of avian influenza viruses from waterfowl in Western Alaska, USA
Science and Products
Cyclic avian mass mortality in the northeastern United States is associated with a novel orthomyxovirus
Spatial and temporal patterns of avian paramyxovirus-1 outbreaks in Double-Crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) in the USA
Surveillance for zoonotic and selected pathogens in harbor seals Phoca vitulina from central California
Avian influenza virus ecology in Iceland shorebirds: intercontinental reassortment and movement
Respiratory transmission of an avian H3N8 influenza virus isolated from a harbour seal
Identification and characterization of Highlands J virus from a Mississippi sandhill crane using unbiased next-generation sequencing
West Nile Virus transmission in winter: the 2013 Great Salt Lake Bald Eagle and Eared Grebes Mortality event
Serologic evidence of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus in northern sea otters
North Atlantic migratory bird flyways provide routes for intercontinental movement of avian influenza viruses
Genetic diversity and mutation of avian paramyxovirus serotype 1 (Newcastle disease virus) in wild birds and evidence for intercontinental spread
Pathogen exposure and blood chemistry in the Washington population of northern sea otters (Enhydra lutris kenyoni)
Genomic analysis of avian influenza viruses from waterfowl in Western Alaska, USA
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government