College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Fisheries and Wildlife

Background

Melinda Cosgrove is the Laboratory Manager for the Wildlife Health Section of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, where she has worked since 1999. In her current role, she oversees daily lab operations, supervises staff, and leads planning and implementation for large-scale wildlife disease surveillance initiatives. She also contributes to strategic planning efforts and collaborates on a variety of wildlife health research projects.

While Melinda contributes to a range of wildlife health efforts, her primary interest is bovine tuberculosis management. Her work includes partnering with interagency, academic, and international collaborators to investigate disease transmission dynamics, management strategies, connections to human health, and approaches to effective communication and outreach.

Melinda is a two-time MSU alum, earning both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. As a wildlife-track undergraduate student, she also gained insight into fisheries management through four years of work as a fisheries lab technician assisting with graduate student research. Later, while working with the Michigan DNR, she returned to MSU to complete her master’s degree, which focused on management and intervention strategies for bovine tuberculosis in white-tailed deer.