Jeff Gruntmeir, a graduate student in the college’s department of comparative, diagnostic and population medicine mentored by Heather Walden, Ph.D., has received the 2021 American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists-Merck Outstanding Graduate Student Award.
Gruntmeir’s research is focused on the mosquito-transmitted canine heartworm, Dirofilaria immitis, as well as other filarial nematode infections of domestic dogs, transmitted by blood-feeding arthropods, such as fleas, lice, mosquitos or ticks. His research goal is to improve early diagnosis of heartworm infection in sheltered dogs, so appropriate treatment can be started to reduce the devastating effect of heartworm disease.
