Rachel Abbott

I am an Extension Associate in the Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Science at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, working in the Wildlife Health Laboratory. Prior to moving to Ithaca, I worked at the USGS National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, WI where I was involved in research to develop oral wildlife vaccines to prevent plague in prairie dogs and white-nose syndrome in bats. I gained experience in captive animal studies, field work, laboratory assays, data management and analysis, and regulatory issues pertaining to wildlife vaccines. I am interested in zoonotic diseases and the interactions of wildlife, domestic animals, and humans.

I hold a BA in mathematics, MS in epidemiology, and a DVM.

Select Publications

2024

Predicting chronic wasting disease in white-tailed deer at the county scale using machine learning. . Ahmed M, Hanley B, Mitchell C, Abbott R, Hollingshead N, Booth J, Guinness J, Jennelle C, Hodel F, Gonzalez-Crespo C, Middaugh C, Ballard J, Clemons B, Killmaster C, Harms T, Caudell J, Westrich W, McCallen E, Casey C, O’Brien L, Trudeau J, Stewart C, Car . Scientific Reports

Predicting the odds of chronic wasting disease with Habitat Risk software . Walter WD, Hanley BJ, Them CE, Mitchell CI, Kelly JD, Grove DM, Hollingshead NA, Abbott RC, Schuler KL . Spatio and Spatio-Temporal Epidemiology

2022

Occurrence of Mange in American Black Bears (Ursus Americanus) in New York State, USA . Zulma Rojas-Sereno, Rachel C. Abbott, Kevin Hynes, Elizabeth Bunting, Jeremy Hurst, Steve Heerkens, Brenda Hanley, Nicholas Hollingshead, Patrick Martin, Krysten Schuler . Journal of Wildlife Diseases

2021

Sentinel Coyote Pathogen Survey To Assess Declining Black-Footed Ferret (Mustela Nigripes) Population In South Dakota, USA . Krysten Schuler, Michael Claymore, Hannah Schnitzler, Edward Dubovi, Tonie Rocke, Michael J Perry, Dwight Bowman, Rachel C Abbott . Journal of Wildlife Diseases

Getting Results in the Fight Against CWD . Krysten Schuler, Rachel Abbott, Johnathan Mawdsley, Kaitlyn McGarvey . The Wildlife Professional

2019

Virally-vectored vaccine candidates against white-nose syndrome induce anti-fungal immune response in little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus). . Rocke TE, Kingstad-Bakke B, Wuthrich M, Stading B, Abbott RC, Isidoro-Ayza M, Dobson HE, dos Santos Dias L, Galles K, Lankton JS, Falendysz EA, Lorch JM, Fites JS, Lopera-Madrid J, White JP, Klein B, Osorio JE . Scientific Reports

Rabies outbreak in captive big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) used in a white-nose syndrome vaccine trial. . Abbott RC, Saindon L, Falendysz EA, Greenberg L, Orciari L, Satheshkumar PS, Rocke TE . Journal of Wildlife Diseases

2018

Factors influencing uptake of sylvatic plague vaccine baits by prairie dogs. . Abbott RC, Russell RE, Richgels KLD, Tripp DW , Matchett MR, Biggins DE, Rocke TE . EcoHealth

2017

Sylvatic plague vaccine partially protects prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.) in field trials. . Rocke TE, Tripp DW, Russell RE , Abbott RC, Richgels KLD, Matchett MR, Biggins DE , Griebel R, Schroeder G, Grassel SM, Pipkin DR, Cordova J , Kavalunas A, Maxfield B, Boulerice J, Miller MW . EcoHealth

2012

Plague: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1372 . Abbott RC , Rocke TE . USGA

For More Info

Contact Information

rca74@cornell.edu

Projects

Active Projects

Fishers and Rodenticide

Digging into the frequency and impact of rodenticides on fishers...

Surveillance Optimization Project for Chronic Wasting Disease (SOP4CWD)

Our Surveillance Optimization Project for Chronic Wasting Disease (SOP4CWD) collaboration has developed the CWD Data Warehouse, an online platform for CWD surveillance planning and data management available at no cost to wildlife agencies across North America.

Porcupine Health and Adenoviruses

Looking into the emerging infections of adenovirus in North American porcupines

Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease

Conducting surveillance for EHD virus in New York and surrounding states, with the goal of characterizing the prevalence of the virus, the degree of developing immunity among white-tailed deer, and the spatiotemporal dynamics of serotype distribution.