Heather D. S. Walden is an Associate Professor at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine(UFCVM). She earned her BS(Biology) from the University of Kentucky and her MS (Biology/Genetics) from Appalachian State University and PhD (Biomedical Sciences/Parasitology)from Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine. She teaches parasitology to students in the UFCVM during their first, third and fourth years and mentors graduate and veterinary student research. She is also the 2016 recipient of the Zoetis Distinguished Veterinary Teacher Award at the University of Florida. She directs a diagnostic parasitology laboratory and works regularly with parasites of both exotic and domestic hosts. Her research interests focus on zoonotic parasitic disease, diagnosis and classical parasite biology, modes of transmission and pathogenicity in the definitive host, and invasive parasite species with particular interest in Angiostrongylus cantonensis. Dr. Walden has led and collaborated on several research projects involving parasites of veterinary and human importance throughout the United States, Mexico, Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands, and Africa. She is a member and past President of the American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists (AAVP)and past President of CAPC.