Ian Tizard

Scholarly Interests

As the Director of the Schubot Exotic Bird Health Center, Dr. Tizard's research interests encompass all aspects of research into the health and welfare of exotic and wild birds. This includes studies on infectious agents such as Mycobacteria, viruses such as Avian Bornavirus, and fungi such as Macrorhabdus. The last two of these agents were discovered at the Schubot Center. In addition, the Center has an interest in the nutrition of pet, aviary and wild birds. Dr. Tizard is the chair of the Scarlet Macaw Genome Project, a major research effort directed at sequencing the entire genome of this splendid bird and the first to be undertaken outside a government-sponsored laboratory. In addition to his interests in captive birds, Dr. Tizard and the Schubot Center promote programs on avian conservation, especially those involving parrots. Currently projects focus on activities in Peru, but other projects are ongoing in Argentina, Mexico and Guatemala. The major site for such activities is on the upper Amazon at Tambopata Peru where nutritional behavioral and environmental studies are ongoing. Dr. Tizard’s sponsored studies focus on the development of new and innovative vaccines against diseases such as influenza, typhoid and SARs.