Heather Fenton, BSc, DMV, MVSc

Dr. Fenton graduated from veterinary school in 2008 and spent two years in mixed veterinary practice. Due to a strong interest and passion for wildlife diseases, she pursued a residency in anatomic pathology with a wildlife focus and became a board-certified anatomic pathologist in 2014. After completion of her residency, she managed the wildlife diagnostic service and supervised residents, veterinary, graduate, and undergraduate students on wildlife cases and projects at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study at the University of Georgia where she gained an appreciation for the role of wildlife health in agency wildlife management programs. She then worked as the staff Wildlife Veterinarian for the Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Canada prior to starting at Ross University as an Assistant Professor of Veterinary Pathology in 2020. Dr. Fenton has been active in the Wildlife Disease Association and a variety of working groups and task forces geared towards addressing conservation challenges.   

EDUCATION

BSc, University of Alberta

DVM, University of Saskatchewan, Western College of Veterinary Medicine

MVSc and Residency in Anatomic Pathology, University of Prince Edward Island, Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, Atlantic Veterinary College

CERTIFICATION

Diplomate American College of Veterinary Pathologists

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Community-based wildlife health monitoring programs

Involvement of wildlife health in wildlife management and conservation decision making

Public health and risk communication of zoonotic and emerging diseases

Collaborative, inclusive, and interdisciplinary approaches to challenging global problems

Pathology, disease ecology, and diagnostic investigations in free-ranging wildlife

Natural diseases in domestic animals

PUBLICATION HIGHLIGHTS

Fenton, H., McManamon, R., and Howerth, E., Chapter 29, Anseriformes, Ciconiiformes, Charadriiformes, &, Gruiformes, Zoo and Wildlife Pathology. Lowenstine, L., St. Leger, J., and McAloose, D. 2018. Elsevier Academic Press. London UK. pp 693-716.

Crespo, R., Franca, M. S., Fenton, H., Shivaprasad, H. L. Chapter 31. Galliformes and Columbiformes. Zoo and Wildlife Pathology. Lowenstine, L., St. Leger, J., and McAloose, D. 2018. Elsevier Academic Press. London UK. 741-767. 

Carlton, R., Fenton, H., Bryan, J., and Yabsley, M. 2019. Pathology in practice: Xanthoma in    Great horned owl. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 254: 1407-1409.

Kevin D. Niedringhaus, Nicole M. Nemeth, Holly S. Sellers, Justin D. Brown, and Heather M.A. Fenton. 2019. Multi-centric round cell neoplasms and their viral associations in wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) in the southeastern USA. Veterinary Pathology 56: 915-920.

He, Y., Taylor, T. L., Dimitrov, K. M., Butt, S. L., Stanton, J. B., Goraichuk, I. V., Fenton, H., Poulson, R., Zhang, J., Brown, C. C., Ip, H. S., Isidoro-Ayza, M., and C. L. Afonso. 2018. Whole-genome sequencing of genotype VI Newcastle disease viruses from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues from wild pigeons reveals continuous evolution and previously unrecognized genetic diversity in the U.S. Virology Journal 15: 9.

Niedringhaus, K. D., Birchfield, H. J., Elsmo, E. J., Cleveland, C., Fenton, H., Shock, B. C., Muise, C., Brown, J. D., Munk, B., Ellis, A., Hall, R. J., Yablsey, M. J. 2019. Trichomonosis due to Trichomonas gallinae infection in barn owls (Tyto alba) and barred owls (Strix varia) from the eastern United States. Veterinary Parasitology: Regional Studies and Reports 16: 100281.

Lauren Mulreany, Michael Garner, Kevin Niedringhaus, Heather Fenton, Chris Gardiner, Barbara Lewis, Richard Smith, Thomas Craig, Bruce Williams, Christopher Cleveland, Christine Smith, and Michael Yabsley. 2018. Filarial dermatitis caused by Filaria taxideae in domestic ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) from the western United States. Veterinary Parasitology: Regional Studies and Reports. 14: 155-160.

Sinnott, D., E. Elsmo, S. K. Peltier, M. J. Yabsley, and H. Fenton.  2018. Pathology in practice: Notoedric mange in two fox squirrels from Kansas.  Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 253: 723-726.

Elsmo, E. J., Fenton, H. 2018. Pituitary abscesses in four free-ranging white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Journal of Wildlife Diseases 55: 254-257.

Elsmo, E. J., Fenton, H., Cunningham, M., Shock, B., Cleveland, C., Howerth, E., and Yabsley, M. 2018. Acute, necrotizing, interstitial pneumonia and suppurative myocarditis associated with Bartonella henselae infection in three Florida pumas (Puma concolor coryi).  Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation 30: 728-732.

Colleen Shockling-Dent, Elizabeth Elsmo, Michael J. Yabsley, Heather M. A. Fenton. 2018. Hepatic fascioloidosis and abscessation in a white-tailed deer. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 253: 167-170.

Niedringhaus, K., Fenton, H., Mete, A., Alex, C., Rogers, K., Anderson, N., Cleveland, C., Schwartz, D., Yabsley, M. 2018. Case Series: Systemic hemosporidiosis infections in juvenile great horned owls (Bubo virginianus) from Louisiana and California, USA. Veterinary Parasitology 12: 49-54.

Clarke, L., Niedringhaus, K., Elsmo, E., Carmichael, P., Keel, M. K., and Fenton H.  2018. Ocular anomalies in free-ranging white-tailed deer. Veterinary Pathology 55: 584-590.

Ortiz, S., Hernandez, S. M., Yabsley, M. J., Becker, T. I., Stedman, N. J., Nelson, S. E. Jr., Carswell, B., Moore, Y., Fenton, H., Niedringhaus, K., Bahnson, C. S., Elsmo, E., Orciari, L. and Norton, T. M. 2018. Introduction and establishment of raccoon rabies on islands: Jekyll Island, Georgia as a case study. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 54: 329-334.

Peltier, S., Brown, J. D., Ternent, M. A., Fenton, H., Niedringhaus, K. D., and M. J. Yabsley. 2018. Evaluation of different diagnostic assays for detection and identification of the causative agent of mange in black bears (Ursus americanus) from Pennsylvania. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 54: 471-479.

Aubree J. Hill, Danny Bryan, Jacob E. Leys, Fantasia M. Erdman, Katherine S. Malone, Gabrielle N. Russell, Roger D. Applegate, Heather Fenton, Kevin Niedringhaus, and Donald M. Walker. 2018. Common cutaneous bacteria isolated from snakes inhibit Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola. Ecohealth 15: 109-120.

Duffus, A., Fenton, H., Gray, M., and Miller, D. 2017. Necropsy and Sampling Techniques for Amphibians for Field Biologists. Herpetological Review 48: 550-557.

Dalton, M. F., Fenton, H., Cleveland, C. A., Elsmo, E. J., and Yabsley, M. J. 2017. Eosinophilic meningoencephalitis associated with rat lungworm (Angiostrongylus cantonensis) migration in two nine-banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) and an opossum (Didelphis virginiana) in the southeastern United States. International Journal of Parasitology: Parasites in Wildlife 6: 131-134.

Bowman, J., Beauclerc, K., Farid, A., Fenton, H., Klutsch, C., Schulte-Hostedde, A., 2017. Hybridization of domestic mink with wild American mink (Neovison vison) in the Canadian Maritimes. Canadian Journal of Zoology 95: 443-451.

Fenton H., Daoust P., Forzan M. J., Vanderstichel R., Ford J., Spaven L., Lair S., Raverty S. 2017. Causes of morality of harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Canada. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 122: 171-183.

Isidoro-Ayza, M, Alfonso, C. L, Brown, C. C., Stanton, J. B., Knowles, S., Green, D. E., Ip, H., White, L., Fenton, H., Ruder, M. G., Dolinski, A., Lankton, J., 2017. Pathological changes in Eurasian collared-doves (Streptopelia decaocto) and rock pigeons (Columba livia) naturally infected with Pigeon Paramyxovirus-1 in the USA. Veterinary Pathology 54: 695-703.

White, L. C., Forzán, M. J., Pessier, A. P., Allender, M. C., Ballard, J. R., Catenazzi, A., Fenton, H., Martel, A., Miller, D. L., Ossiboff, R. J., Richgels, K. L. D., Kerby J. L., 2016. Amphibian: A case definition and diagnostic criteria for Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans chytridiomycosis. Herpetological Review 47: 207-209.

Last, L., H. Fenton, J. Goynor-McGuire, M. Moore, and M. J. Yabsley. 2016. Snake Fungal Disease due to infection with Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola in a free-ranging mud snake (Farancia abacura) from Georgia, U. S. A. Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation 28: 709-713.

Fenton H., Forzán M., Desmarchelier M., Woodland M., Sayi S., and C. Gilroy. 2016. Poorly differentiated carcinoma of non-sebaceous origin in a three-year old Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus). Canadian Veterinary Journal 57: 80-83.

H. Fenton. New grad chronicles. 2016. Clinical practice is not mandatory. Canadian Veterinary Journal 57: 657-658.

Andreia Fernandes, Heather Fenton, Shannon Martinson, Marion Desmarchelier, and Shannon Ferrell. 2014. Absolute polycythemia in a bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 45: 958-960.

Wagner, B.A., E. P Hoberg, C.M Somers, C. Soos, H. Fenton, E.J. Jenkins. 2012. Gastrointestinal helminth parasites of double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) at four sites in Saskatchewan, Canada, 2006-2007. Comparative Parasitology 79: 275-282.

Gentes ML, Whitworth TL, Waldner C, Fenton H, Smits JE. 2007. Tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) nesting on wetlands impacted by oil sands mining are highly parasitized by the bird blow fly Protocalliphora spp. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 43: 167-78.

Treguerres M, Fatoh F, Fenton H, Jasinska E, Goss G. 2005. Regulation of branchial V-H(+)-ATPase, Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase and NHE2 in response to acid and base infusions in the Pacific spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias). Journal of Experimental Biology 208: 345-54.