Dr. Patricia Lopes has been named a winner of the Robert Lochmiller Young Investigator Award on behalf of the Division of Ecoimmunology and Disease Ecology in the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology.

Named in honor of a seminal figure in ecoimmunology, the award recognizes distinguished contributions to the fields of ecological immunology and disease ecology. The Lopes lab studies the causes and consequences of social interactions, with a strong focus on reciprocal relationships between disease and behavior. Among the lab’s recent papers is a review published in the Journal of Experimental Biology of the behaviors displayed by different vertebrate animals when they are sick and a book chapter focused on how animals behaviorally avoid becoming sick (in press, in Animal Behavior and Parasitism, Oxford University Press). Their work has significant implications for our understanding of disease transmission.

Dr. Lopes reflects on her award, “I’m honored to receive an award for my work in the field of disease ecology and ecoimmunology. My work is specifically focused on how infectious diseases affect behavior and how, in turn, behavior affects transmission of infectious diseases. At a time when a pandemic has disproportionately impacted scientists with identities that have historically been underrepresented in the sciences, this award feels particularly significant to me as a Latin-American woman,” said Lopes.

Congratulations, Dr. Lopes!