Whitney Preisser

I am an assistant professor of disease ecology at Kennesaw State University (KSU). My research program explores the ecology and biogeography of parasitic diseases of wildlife. I use literature sources, field collections, and natural history collections to investigate the spatial and temporal distributions of parasitic diseases, and I seek to understand how the environment, hosts, and anthropogenic disturbances shape these patterns.

At KSU, I teach BIOL 4115 Parasitology in the fall and summer semesters and BIOL 4115L Parasitology Lab in the fall. Beginning in the summer of 2027, I will also be offering the study abroad course SA 4490 Arctic Ecology in Canada with Dr. Mario Bretfeld. We will lead students up to the remote subarctic town of Churchill, Manitoba to study the flora and fauna. Highlights include kayaking with beluga whales, watching the northern lights, and conducting student research projects!

I received my PhD from Texas A&M University in 2019. I was a postdoctoral scholar in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington from 2019 to 2021, and then I was a Biodiversity Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University from 2021 to 2022.