Students and Staff
(alphabetical order)
Burke, Dana
Dana was born and raised in Amarillo, TX and received her Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife Biology from West Texas A&M University in 2004. She enjoys her job in the VERO Molecular Biology Research Laboratory as a Research Assistant. Dana spends her day in the lab using Next Generation Sequencing workflows such as Target Enrichment and 16S and helps Graduate students with their research whenever she is needed. She and her husband are parents of three wonderful children, grandparents to a beautiful granddaughter, and have two dogs and one cat.
Carter, Hannah
Hannah was born and raised in the Texas Hill Country on a beef cattle ranch. She received her Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M University in 2024, majoring in Animal Science. Her research focus will be characterization of the microbiome and resistome in production animals.
Dudley, Ethan
Ethan Dudley
-- PhD Student, Texas A&M University
-- Advisor: Dr. Robert Valeris-Chacin
Ethan was born and raised in Cartersville, Georgia, and earned his B.S. degree in Animal Science from Berry College in Rome, Georgia. He joined the Valeris lab at VERO in 2023 as a M.S. student in the Texas A&M Biomedical Science program. His research will focus on evaluating the distribution of virulence and antimicrobial resistance genes present in Salmonella isolates from Beef and Dairy Cattle in the Texas Panhandle, Colorado, and Western New Mexico. Better characterization of Salmonella pathogenesis and epidemiology and its association with illness in cattle will allow the industry to better understand and mitigate the harm caused by Salmonella.
Bailey Erickson
Bailey was born and raised in Atwood, Colorado, and received her Bachelor of Science degree from West Texas A&M University in 2026. She enjoys her role as a Research Technician at VERO, where she contribute to ongoing research projects and support the laboratory's work. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her dog and is looking forward to marrying her fiancé in 2027.
Erickson, Sarah
Sarah Erickson
-- PhD Student, Texas A&M University
-- Advisor: Dr. Paul Morley
Sarah Erickson is currently pursuing her Doctor of Philosophy (Biomedical Sciences) through the VERO program at Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas. Sarah received her Master of Science (2023) from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and her Bachelor of Science (2018) from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. The area of focus for Sarah's MSc thesis was the epidemiology of hoof-related lameness in western Canadian feedlot cattle. Sarah became part of the Feedlot Health Management Services team in 2018. In 2020, Sarah became part of the TELUS Agriculture team and currently works on the Animal Health Support Team as a data advisor.
Hacker, Nicholas
Nicholas Hacker
-- MS Student, Texas A&M University
-- Advisor: Dr. Robert Valeris-Chacin
Nicholas is a graduate research assistant under Dr. Valeris-Chacin. He graduated from West Texas A&m with a BS in wildlife biology and is pursuing his master's at TAMU VERO. His goal is to pursue the wildlife/agriculture interface to help develop new interventions to benefit human and animal health.
Hazlett, Kayla
Kayla Hazlett
-- PhD Student, Texas A&M University
-- Advisor: Dr. Lee Pinnell
Kayla is originally from Woodstock, Georgia and earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science from Berry College in Rome, Georgia. She joined VERO in 2024 as a Ph.D student in the Texas A&M Biomedical Sciences (BIMS) program. Her research will focus on using shotgun metagenomic and 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing data to investigate the microbial communities associated with bovine liver abscesses. Outside of work, Kayla enjoys spending time outdoors and with her cat Fish Stik.
Henderson, Harley
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Harley Henderson
-- MS Student, Texas A&M University
-- Advisor: Dr. Cassidy Klima
Harley graduated from Berry College in Rome, Georgia with her B.S. in Animal Science in 2022. In the past few years, she has spent the majority of her time working in Montana and Colorado. She joined the VERO program in the Fall of 2025 to pursue her M.S. in Biomedical Science. Her research will take an integrative approach to study microbes associated with Bovine Respiratory Diseases (BRD) at a strain-level. This approach aims to link strain-level associations between different diseases to the BRD pathology.
Hunt, Brennen
Brennen Hunt
-- MS Student, Texas A&M University
-- Advisor: Dr. Paul Morley
Brennen was born in Manchester, CT, moved to Albuquerque, NM when he was eight, then moved again to Mesa, AZ when he was 13. He graduated from the University of Arizona with a bachelor's degree in microbiology and a minor in classics. He worked in a clinical microbiology lab at a medical center in Tucson, AZ for two years examining patient specimens for bacteria, fungi and parasites. He frequently encountered multi drug resistant or totally drug resistant organisms, which prompted and interest in studying antibiotic reistance in microorganisms. Having experienced the clinical side of microbiology, he hopes to combine his past work with his future studies in a research lab in order to gain a more complete understanding of human and animal health.
Jones, Jaye
Jaye Jones is an administrative coordinator for VERO through the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences (VLCS) in the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVMBS). She holds a degree in business administration from New Mexico State University and brings over twenty-five years of experience in university systems and agricultural organizations to her role, having served as both an executive director and an administrator. Jaye is married to Mark, and they have a spoiled rotten Australian cattle dog named Sophie.
Lugo-Mesa, Valeria
Valeria Lugo Mesa
-- MS Student, Texas A&M University
-- Advisor: Dr. Lee Pinnell
Valeria is originally from Bogota, Colombia, and earned her DVM from Universidad Nacional de Colombia in 2023. After an internship at the University of Minnesota, she joined the VERO team in 2024 as a M.S. student in the Texas A&M Biomedical Sciences program. Her research focuses on microbial ecology and antimicrobial resistance across diverse environments and hosts. Her professional interests include using computational approaches and data visualization to answer biological questions. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time outdoors, especially by a lake on a hot summer day.
Montoya, Chloe
Chloe Montoya
-- MS Student, Texas A&M University
-- Advisor: Dr. Matthew Scott
Chloe is from Albuquerque, New Mexico. She earned her bachelor's degree in animal science from West Texas A&M University in 2026. Chloe joined the Scott lab in 2025 as an undergraduate and will be pursuing a master's degree under Dr. Matthew Scott. Her research will focus on aspects of host immunity, viral challenge, bovine respiratory disease, and gut barrier dysfunction. Chloe enjoys traveling, and she loves the outdoors.
Oyervides, Fabiola
Fabiola Oyervides
-- PhD Student, Texas A&M University
-- Advisors: Dr. Matthew Scott
Fabiola completed her bachelor's degree in Animal Science with a Pre-Veterinary focus and a master's degree in Chemistry from Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Her research interests include epidemioogy, immunology, and veterinary medicine.
Ramirez, Bradly
Bradly Ramirez
-- PhD Student, Texas A&M University
-- Advisor: Dr. Matthew Scott
Bradly completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Houston-Victoria in 2021. He is currently a PhD student in the Biomedical Sciences (BIMS) program at VERO. His research focuses on the transcription and methylation of immunologically important genes, specifically in the context of bovine respiratory disease. By studying how cattle gene expression changes in response to stress, handling, and pharmaceuticals, especially in the context of disease, he hopes to detail new etiologies of multifactorial diseases in cattle. His other interests involve gene therapy, and its potential to translate research on gene expression into tangible benefits, for individuals afflicted by congenital disorders.
Torres, Luis
Luis Torres is a DVM who graduated from the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez (2016). He currently holds a full-time position at TELUS Ag, formerly Feedlot Health Management Services, based in the Amarillo office, where he has been working for the past 8 years. Concurrently, he is pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy (Biomedical Sciences) through West Texas A&M University in Canyon Texas.
Wolfe, Cory
Cory Wolfe
-- Research Associate and VERO Laboratory Manager
Cory is a molecular biologist that oversees and manages activities in the VERO Research Laboratory.