Raina Plowright

Raina Plowright serves as the Rudolf J. and Katharine L. Steffen Professor of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine, where she leads the Department of Public & Ecosystem Health. She is also a Cornell Atkinson Scholar at the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability. Previously, she was a Professor of Epidemiology at Montana State University (2022-present), Associate Professor (2020-2022), and Assistant Professor (2014-2020) in the same department.

Plowright earned her B.V.Sc. Hons I (DVM equivalent) from the University of Sydney in 1997, followed by an M.S. in Epidemiology (2005) and Ph.D. in Ecology (2007) from the University of California, Davis. She completed postdoctoral training as a David H. Smith Fellow in Conservation Research at Pennsylvania State University's Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics (2009-2014).

Her research program integrates evolutionary biology, ecology, environmental science, immunology, virology, and social sciences to understand and prevent zoonotic spillover—the critical first step in pandemic emergence. She leads transdisciplinary collaborations focused on WHO-priority pathogens originating in bats, with work spanning from sub-cellular to landscape scales. Her team investigates how land-use change, climate variation, and social vulnerability drive pathogen emergence, identifying practical strategies for prevention. Her Plowright Lab and Bat One Health Research Group conduct field studies, laboratory experiments, and predictive modeling to generate actionable insights for public health strategies.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent focus on understanding the ecological and physiological mechanisms driving viral spillover from bats to other species. Her work increasingly emphasizes practical interventions and policy recommendations for pandemic prevention, moving beyond simply understanding spillover mechanisms to implementing ecological countermeasures. Recent research has particularly examined the role of bat nutrition and metabolism in viral shedding dynamics, the spatial and temporal patterns of viral excretion in reservoir hosts, and the development of comprehensive frameworks for primary pandemic prevention.

• Elected to the National Academy of Medicine (2023)
• Elected as Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2022)
• Charles and Nora Wiley Award for Meritorious Research (2022)
• Rudolph J. and Katharine L. Steffen Professorship (2023)
• DARPA Young Faculty Award (2016)
• David H. Smith Fellowship in Conservation Research (2009)

Plowright co-chairs the Lancet Commission on Prevention of Viral Spillover and serves on the NSF Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education. Her research has received significant funding from organizations including DARPA, NSF, and the Morris Animal Foundation. She leads the Plowright Lab and Bat One Health Research Group, which conduct interdisciplinary research spanning field studies, laboratory experiments, and modeling approaches to understand and prevent zoonotic disease emergence.

Her laboratory maintains active collaborations with researchers across multiple institutions and countries, working closely with wildlife managers, public health officials, and communities to develop practical strategies for pandemic prevention. The lab's approach emphasizes the integration of ecological knowledge with public health practice through the One Health framework.