Ep 53: Parasites and Public Health
Synopsis
Mewysocks, AKA That Parasite Girl joined the podcast to talk about parasites and public health! Tune in to get an in-depth parasites 101, hear examples of parasites, learn WHY studying parasites is vital for public health, and hear what Parasitologists do.
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Meet the Guest Star
Mewysocks:
Mewysocks graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a Bachelor’s in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Before finding her love for parasitology and switching to a graduate school track, Mewysocks was on a pre-vet track. She worked as a veterinary technician for several years during school and a year post-graduation.
During undergrad at Colorado Boulder, she was a part of the Boulder Chickadee project that focused on the hybridization of Black-Capped and Mountain Chickadees, and resulting ecological outcomes that included differing parasitism between the species and hybrids. Most of that work involved catching birds, setting up CO2 traps, screening blood samples, and sitting at the microscope sorting insect vectors.
As a PhD student focusing on population health, her lab focused on researching a breadth of wildlife disease parameters. Her work focused on ticks and tick-transmitted parasites in wildlife with some attention on parasitism in mammals. The day-to-day included a mix of microscopy, fieldwork, and PCRs.
Mewysocks started making TikToks about parasites while in grad school, but became much more serious about it after taking a step back from grad school. She inevitably fell in love with Science communication, not only because of making content, but also because it has been a way to stay connected with her work and interests in parasites… beyond mosquitoes!
