Livestock, wildlife health focus of UW position

Kerry Sondgeroth, an associate professor and veterinary bacteriologist, accepted the position this month as the Riverbend Endowed Professor of Wildlife-Livestock Health at the University of Wyoming.

Sondgeroth, who comes from the Wyoming State veterinary laboratory, said the position has the potential to have an immense benefit on Wyoming’s livestock and wildlife.

She said she hopes the position will build a solid reputation at UW for wildlife-livestock health and bring awareness to the diseases being studied. Her appointment to the position is for five years.

Sondgeroth said the position can be a middle ground to gain understanding of certain diseases in order to protect the health of wildlife, livestock and humans.

Tim Mellon donated the Riverbend Ranch west of Laramie to the UW Foundation in 2011, with proceeds of the ranch’s eventual sale earmarked to establish the endowment position in UW’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Sondgeroth received her doctor of veterinary medicine degree from Colorado State University in 2006 and was a post-degree graduate student at Washington State University from 2006-13. She received a Ph.D. in veterinary science in 2013.

She said her training and position as the only veterinary bacteriologist in Wyoming provides exposure to many bacteriological diseases across the state of interest to livestock producers and wildlife interest groups.