He will serve as NIMBioS associate director for partner relations. Hickling is currently developing simulation models of the spatial dynamics of ticks, pathogens, and reservoir host species (mice, raccoons, birds and deer) and their potential for human health risk. Models incorporating wildlife hosts are fundamental to understanding recent distributional changes in ticks and tick-borne pathogens because wildlife dispersal provides the primary means by which ticks invade new habitat. Suzanne Lenhart