Patterns of health within human and animal societies and across different multispecies communities represent emergent global patterns whose underlying dynamics must be understood to better tackle complex health issues. Our goal is to employ evolutionary and social network theories for practical applications at the human-animal interface using a transdisciplinary framework comprised of computationa
l biology, genomics, epidemiology and behavioral ecology. We seek to understand how spatial and mathematical relations of networks relate to the content and quality of relationships and how such variation influences a diversity of health outcomes. We are unique in that we are developing innovative multi-scale computational techniques that will provide greater insight into how and why basic genomic, behavioral and social processes influence specific health outcomes as well as overall health and well-being. The application of these approaches involves a broad commodity base including wildlife, captive exotics, biomedical animals, livestock production systems, and companion animals.
