Katie Vigil is a certified California public health microbiologist (PHm) that got a master’s in science (M.S.) and bachelors in science (B.S.) from Humboldt State University where she used molecular methods to study Rickettsia bacteria in Ixodes pacificus ticks. She worked as a microbiologist at Valley Water in San Jose California for 6 years where she specialized in drinking water compliance testing, source water field sampling and harmful algal bloom (HAB) monitoring. She recently returned to school to get a PhD at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine Department of Environmental Health Sciences to pursue research utilizing different molecular techniques, such as genome sequencing, to study viral communities in marine environments under a One Health framework. 

During her residency, she intends to draft a publication on sequencing viruses in seawater and oysters collected from Barataria Bay to identify emerging zoonotic diseases and pathogens that may impact other aquatic organisms. This publication will also evaluate oysters as sentinels for monitoring marine viruses.