Kathleen Hunt

Kathleen Hunt is an Assistant Professor at George Mason University with research affiliations in the Biology Department and the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation. Her work focuses on applied conservation physiology, examining how environmental and human-induced stressors affect reproduction and health in wild vertebrates.

• Research Expertise: Noninvasive hormone assay validation (feces, respiratory vapor, museum specimens), environmental stress impacts, wildlife conservation
• Current Projects: Reproductive cycles in bowhead whales; entanglement effects in humpback/right whales; historic pregnancy trends in Antarctic whales; Arctic bird ecology; avian malaria in Hawaiian birds; sea turtle stress physiology; Brazilian tegu hibernation

Awards:

• Dean’s Emerging Leader Award (2023)

Dr. Hunt teaches human anatomy/physiology, reproductive physiology, comparative endocrinology, and conservation physiology. She collaborates with field teams across Alaska, Greenland, Hawaii, Brazil, Argentina, and the eastern U.S./Canada, including the U.S. marine mammal stranding network and natural history museums.