Janelle Wierenga

Janelle R. Wierenga holds a doctorate of veterinary medicine from Michigan State University and a Master in Public Health from the University of Washington. Her career included over 15 years practicing and teaching small animal emergency and critical care medicine as a board-certified specialist veterinarian, including teaching into the veterinary sciences program at Massey University and now an adjunct Senior Lecturer. After completing a PhD in cross-species transmission of infectious diseases, she then moved into a postdoctoral position with Massey University and the University of Otago investigating infectious diseases affecting the yellow-eyed penguin chicks, funded by the Morris Animal Foundation. She has spent the last five years investigating these diseases and supervising post-graduate students working within the research. She is also Head of Wildlife Management at the Otago Peninsula Eco Restoration Alliance.