Kelsey Spence is a Ph.D. Student, of Epidemiology in the Department of Population Medicine at the University of Guelph. She is currently working with a research team to help prevent the spread of equine disease within Ontario.

This research project aims to describe how contacts form between horses as they travel and to understand how this contact structure could influence the risk of disease spread. It is important to describe these travel patterns in order to prepare effective disease prevention strategies. This is the first project of its kind in Canada, and the results will help inform targeted disease prevention and management plans to reduce the emotional and economic consequences of disease in the equine industry.