Meggan Craft ’93, Ph.D.

An Infectious disease ecologist, Meggan Craft ’93, Ph.D., is committed to understanding infectious disease dynamics in animal and human populations. An Associate Professor (Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota), she tests hypotheses regarding disease spread and consequent control.

During the pandemic, she did math model work, simulating the spread of COVID-19. UofM was trying to determine if social distancing would work so undergraduates could return to the research lab. “At the height – no one knew what would work and how to reduce spread,” she said. “I created math models to prevent the ‘mixing’ of students. We found that your risk was less if you went straight to the research lab and home. That is super obvious now but, at the time, was pretty groundbreaking.”

Meggan Craft ’93, Ph.D.

Drawn to science, she took all the AP classes FWCD offered. “Our Big Bend trip with Sharon Foster and Jim Aldridge, the AP Bio trip to Port Aransas, and the Outdoor Club advised by Karen Giles are some of my greatest School memories,” Craft said. “Seeing, touching, smelling biology; learning science outdoors; and camping and hiking were impactful. As a result, I became a field biologist.”

Craft followed a pre-med/pre-vet track at Brown University. “Country Day prepared me well, but it was a reality check. Coming from the top of the class at CDS to a pool where everyone is at the top of the class was a motivating environment,” she said. “Going away to college was eyeopening and humbling.”

A study abroad wildlife management field study in Kenya as a junior changed Craft’s life. “We were living outside Nairobi on a game ranch for gazelle, ostrich, wildebeest, zebras, learning about wildlife behavior, economics and management, taking expeditions to game reserves and national parks,” she said. “I fell in love with wildlife and connecting with new people and cultures.”

Following graduation from Brown, Craft returned to Kenya as a field study intern. Subsequently, Dr. Craig Packer (UofM) called her about a job with Serengeti lions. They met in Nairobi; Dr. Packer gave her $20 and told her to get to Serengeti. She monitored 300 individually known lions with two other researchers. When the year concluded, Craft started a Safari company in East Africa, sharing her love of the indigenous animals, culture and activities. Dr. Packer contacted her again, asking her to lead the Serengeti lion program and begin graduate school at UofM.

In 2003, Craft started doctoral work in ecology evolution behavior, which morphed into wildlife diseases. For five years, she worked on her degree and studied lions in Serengeti. Specifically, she looked at the spread of canine distemper virus among the lions. Craft found that hyenas got the disease from domestic dogs, and the lions ate the hyenas. She partnered with those studying domestic dogs to vaccinate for rabies, which saved the lions.

Earning her doctorate in 2008, Dr. Craft spent time at the University of Glasgow as a fellow before returning to Minnesota. Now, she is working on a project involving deer and how they can get SARS-CoV-2 from humans and transmit it among their population. “Ultimately, we are concerned that the virus could mutate inside the deer and be transferred back to humans, becoming a new variant,” Dr. Craft said. “We will learn a lot from this study, deer behavior in urban areas, deer movement, and how and when they transmit the disease.”

The seeds for her love of science were planted at FWCD. “I am so grateful to Country Day for helping launch my career,” Dr. Craft said. “I received a world-class education there that propelled me into academics and allowed me to attend an Ivy League university that further opened doors for me.”