Ben Stading

Ben Stading, DVM, MPH, PhD received his bachelor’s degree in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior from the University of Minnesota in 2003, followed by an internship in zoo husbandry. He went on to obtain his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Wisconsin in 2008, and the following year completed his Master’s in Public Health through a dual degree program in Wisconsin. He subsequently went into small animal practice in the Tampa area of Florida for two years before returning to the University of Wisconsin to start a PhD program focused on virology and immunology. His research involved the development of oral vaccines for topical use in free-ranging bats, developing novel rabies vaccine biologics, and assessing protective immunity against white-nose syndrome in bats. He became actively involved in bat conservation during this time, and regularly gave educational talks to the public. After completing his PhD in 2017, he spent two more years in small animal practice and then joined the St. Matthew’s University School of Veterinary Medicine team.

Dr. Stading’s professional interests include infectious diseases, wildlife health, veterinary public health and one-health medicine, and small animal clinical practice.

• Virology
• Immunology
• Public Health
• Wildlife Conservation
• Wildlife Health
• General Practice

• Morris Animal Foundation Fellowship 2014-2016 
• FWS response to WNS competitive grants 2014-2016
• NIH funded Comparative Biomedical Sciences T32 Training Grant 2011-2014
• Biological Sciences Scholar Award 2011

• Paul-Murphy, J. R., Sladky, K. K., Krugner-Higby, L. A., Stading, B. R., Klauer, J. M., Keuler, N. S., Brown, C. S., & Heath, T. D. (2009). Analgesic effects of carprofen and liposome-encapsulated butorphanol tartrate in Hispaniolan parrots (Amazona ventralis) with experimentally induced arthritis. American Journal of Veterinary Research, 70(10). Publication here.
• Stading, B. R., & Gamble, K. C. (2011). Clinical challenge – Gastrolithiasis in an alpaca. Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine, 42(3). Publication here.
• Stading, B. R., Osorio, J. E., Velasco-Villa, A., Smotherman, M., Kingstad-Bakke, B., & Rocke, T. E. (2016). Infectivity of attenuated poxvirus vaccine vectors and immunogenicity of a raccoonpox vectored rabies vaccine in the Brazilian Free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis). Vaccine. Publication here.
• Verant, M. L., Meteyer, C. U., Stading, B., & Blehert, D. S. (2018). Experimental Infection of Tadarida brasiliensis with Pseudogymnoascus destructans , the Fungus That Causes White-Nose Syndrome. MSphere, 3(4). Publication here.
• Rocke, T. E., Kingstad-Bakke, B., Wüthrich, M., Stading, B., Abbott, R. C., Isidoro-Ayza, M., Dobson, H. E., dos Santos Dias, L., Galles, K., Lankton, J. S., Falendysz, E. A., Lorch, J. M., Fites, J. S., Lopera-Madrid, J., White, J. P., Klein, B., & Osorio, J. E. (2019). Virally-vectored vaccine candidates against white-nose syndrome induce anti-fungal immune response in little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus). Scientific Reports, 9(1). Publication here.

• Novel Diseases of Wildlife
• Rabies
• White-nose Syndrome

• 2013 Wildlife Disease Conference – Spoke on bat vaccine research
  • Runner-up for student speaking award
• 2013 White-nose Syndrome and Wildlife Disease Forum – Spoke on bat vaccine research
• 2014 Infectious Diseases of Bats Symposium – Presented poster on bat vaccine research
• 2014-2016 Annual Wisconsin Bat Festival – Presented bat research to a lay audience

• Dr. Stading is also involved in local wildlife health projects
  • Runner-up for student speaking award