Northeast Regional Fish and Wildlife Health Coordinator

Application deadline: September 4, 2026. Position duration: three years.

About the role

The Regional Fish and Wildlife Health Coordinator serves the Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (NEAFWA) and works with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) to coordinate fish and wildlife health efforts regionally and nationally. This position acts as a liaison to the fish and wildlife health community, including state, tribal, federal, non-governmental, and university partners.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary point of contact for NEAFWA on fish and wildlife health issues, supporting NEAFWA’s Fish and Wildlife Health Committee and other technical committees through meeting coordination, agenda development, and collaborative work.
• Coordinate responses to emerging wildlife health threats.
• Work with AFWA’s Fish and Wildlife Health Coordinator to support the National Fish and Wildlife Health Initiative (NFWHI) and inform critical management decisions, policies, and actions.
• Encourage and support communications and collaborations among partners to address emerging fish and wildlife health issues, disseminating timely information via emails, listservs, newsletters, and other outlets.
• Maintain effective relationships and act as a liaison with state, federal, regional, tribal, territorial, and university fish and wildlife health programs to identify and prioritize needs related to disease management, surveillance, education, communication, training, and research.
• Coordinate with state and tribal personnel to assist in identifying, planning, writing, and submitting multi-agency grant applications for fish and wildlife health funding.
• Develop strategies to meet the fish and wildlife health needs of NEAFWA member agencies, including identifying diagnostic laboratory support, personnel training needs, and research questions.
• Provide guidance on appropriate necropsy and diagnostic centers.
• Maintain a repository of disease management and response plans to assist with future plan development and regional coordination.
• Provide technical assistance to NEAFWA states in developing and updating wildlife disease surveillance strategies and management plans.
• Assist in developing and updating spatial databases for documenting emerging disease issues at regional and national scales.
• Coordinate with NEAFWA states and federal agencies to develop regional strategies for preventing, detecting, managing, and eradicating diseases to minimize impacts on wildlife, livestock, and people.

Deliverables

• Provide detailed documentation of achievements to the FWS Wildlife Health office, Northeast FWS regional programs, and NEAFWA.
• Support the NEAFWA Fish and Wildlife Health Committee and maintain a regional network of fish and wildlife health practitioners.
• Maintain communication plans, multi-jurisdictional management plans, and structured information-sharing mechanisms.
• Provide, support, and/or arrange shared, multi-agency fish and wildlife health training.
• Support NEAFWA states in addressing capacity issues related to fish and wildlife health programs.
• Develop and coordinate management practices for addressing wildlife health issues across jurisdictions.
• Prepare and coordinate document development involving comments, responses, resolutions, and position statements on proposed federal rules, regulations, and legislation related to fish and wildlife health.

Requirements

• Ph.D. or DVM with expertise in fish and/or wildlife health and/or disease management.
• One or more years of related work experience (other combinations of education and experience will be evaluated on an individual basis).
• In-depth experience working with North American wildlife management agencies.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of and demonstrated experience in wildlife management and wildlife disease management principles, pathology, diagnostic testing, and research methodologies for disease investigations with population-level impacts.
• Experience working with free-ranging wildlife populations and related health issues.
• Experience facilitating collaborations among individuals from multiple organizations, government bodies, non-governmental organizations, universities, and national programs related to fish and wildlife health.
• Strong oral and written communication skills on technical issues.
• Demonstrated ability to develop, design, and administer grant proposals, manage multi-state projects, track budgets, monitor progress, and review final reports.
• Demonstrated ability to be an effective decision-maker and negotiator, with proficiency in conflict resolution.