Vicki Blazer

Vicki Blazer received her BS in Marine Science and Biology from Southampton College of Long Island University and her PhD in Fisheries, Aquaculture and Pathology from the University of Rhode Island. After completing a postdoctoral position in Medical Microbiology at the Veterinary College, University of Georgia, she accepted the Assistant Leader position with the Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit in the School of Forest Resources, where she taught Fish Diseases, Fish Nutrition and Fish Pathology and directed graduate student research. Since coming to her current position as a Research Fishery Biologist at the US Geological Survey’s National Fish Health Research Laboratory in Kearneysville, WV, she has continued to teach classes and direct graduate student research. She is an adjunct professor at West Virginia University, Penn State University and Shepherd University. Her current primary research interests are understanding the influence of environmental stressors (climate, contaminants, parasites, pathogens) on the health of fish populations and utilizing fish health biomarkers as indicators of ecosystem health. Her major projects are in the Chesapeake Bay and Great Lakes watersheds and include understanding the sources, pathways and effects of endocrine disruptors and other contaminants of emerging concern.