Bridget B. Baker

Dr. Baker has a unique background in wildlife ecology and veterinary medicine with expertise in conservation medicine, aquatic animal health and welfare, environmental toxicology, wildlife diseases, and One Health. After an early career as a wildlife biologist working with various federal, state, academic, and non-profit groups, and as a sea otter rehabilitation aquarist at Monterey Bay Aquarium, Bridget went on to the University of Wisconsin – Madison to earn her Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine with an emphasis in wildlife, exotic, and zoo animal medicine, as well as a Master of Science in comparative biomedical science, investigating analgesics in aquatic species. She completed a Special Species internship at UW-Madison and a postdoctoral fellowship at the USGS National Wildlife Health Center, before working as a veterinarian at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. She is currently faculty in the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at UF, where she serves as the Co-Director for UF Marine Animal Rescue and Program Director for Wildlife Forensic Sciences and Conservation.