Pacific Region Fish Health Program

Division of Fishery Resources
911 NE 11th Avenue
Portland, OR 97232
Phone: 503.872.2763
Fax: 503.231.2062

276 Dworshak Complex Drive
Orofino, ID 83544
Phone: 208.476.9500
Fax: 208.476.9741

201 Oklahoma Road
Willard , WA 98605
Phone: 509.538.2400
Fax: 509.538.2404 

500 Desmond Drive SE
Lacey, WA 98503
Phone: 360.753.9046
Fax: 360.753.9403

Andrew Goodwin, Fish Health Program Manager          
andrew_goodwin@fws.gov
503.231.6784

Andy Goodwin oversees the operation of the three Fish Health Centers in Region One. These Centers monitor the health of wild and hatchery fish and oversee the prevention and treatment of fish diseases on FWS hatcheries and on many tribal hatcheries.  After earning a B.S. degree from the University of Toledo, Andy worked on private hatcheries in Ohio and in Texas for several years. Finding that he needed to know more about fish health, he went to Auburn University where he earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Fish Pathology, and then spent three years as a post-doctoral researcher at Cornell University.

For the next 16 years Andy worked as a professor and administrator at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.  In that position he oversaw four fish health laboratories that served private and public hatcheries in the southeast, taught classes in fish health, did fish disease research, and served in an Extension role where he was responsible for providing fish health and biosecurity information to hatchery managers and fish health professionals.

Andy has published more than 80 peer-reviewed scientific papers and several book chapters on fish diseases with fish viruses as the most frequent topic.  He has served on many professional and governmental committees responsible for developing fish health policies and regulations at both the national and international level.  He has been with the FWS since September 2012.  

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Idaho Fish Health Center

The Idaho Fish Health Center is co-located with Dworshak National Fish Hatchery in the southern panhandle of Idaho between the historic communities of Ahsahka and Orofino. Originally built in 1969 as part of the Dworshak National Fish Hatchery, the center provides fish health services within Idaho, eastern Washington, and eastern Oregon. Federally-funded national fish hatcheries within Idaho receive health diagnostic and inspection services from the center. In addition, the center works in cooperation with other federal, state, private, and tribal agencies to survey, sample, and analyze hatchery and wild fish populations.

276 Dworshak Complex Drive 
Orofino, ID 83544
Phone: 208.476.9500
Fax: 208.476.9741

Meet the Staff:

Dr. Marilyn “Guppy” Blair, Veterinary Medical Officer/Project Leader          
Guppy received her B.A. in Chemistry from Willamette University and her DVM at Oregon State/Washington State Universities.  Upon graduation she worked at a mixed animal practice in Brush Prairie, WA.  She then worked for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as a Fish Pathologist before starting her federal career at the Idaho FHC in 1996.

Dr. Blair has been involved in the cooperative development of the National Aquatic Animal Health Plan and served as a technical representative for the FWS on the Joint Subcommittee on Aquaculture’s National Aquatic Animal Task Force with partners representing NOAA-Fisheries and USDA-APHIS.  She has also been involved on the AVMA Aquatic Veterinary Medicine Committee and is currently the aquatics representative for the AVMA Humane Slaughter Panel.  She is currently the pathologist representative for Region One to the Pacific NW Fish Heath Protection Committee and is a Fish Health Science editor for the AFS Fisheries Magazine. Dr. Blair is a federally accredited and state licensed veterinarian.  She is also a Certified Aquatic Animal Health Inspector and Certified Pathologist by the American Fisheries Society Fish Health Section and a FWS Certified Title 50 Inspector.

Corie Samson, Fish Biologist          
Corie received a B.S. in Fish Biology from the University of Idaho.  Her federal career began in 1992, prior to graduation, working for the Dworshak Fish Health Center, now known as the Idaho Fish Health Center.  In 1994 she was hired onto the Cooperative Education Program (COOP) with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  She spent one summer at Lower Columbia River Fish Health Center, the next at Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery, and the third at Arcata Fish and Wildlife Office.  Upon completion of her biology degree she was hired on full time with the USFWS at the California/Nevada Fish Health Center and then transferred to Idaho FHC. Her duties include diagnostics, monitoring, and inspections.  Corie’s primary role is cell culture and virology.

Laura Sprague, Fishery Biologist          
Laura received her A.S. in Fish and Wildlife Management from Sierra Junior College and her B.S. in Fisheries with an emphasis in Fish Health and Fisheries Management from Humboldt State University. Laura has been employed with Idaho Fish Health Center since 1996. Her duties include the National Wild Fish Health Survey, diagnostics, hatchery inspections, and PCR screening and confirmations.  She is the back up for parasitology, virology, and bacteriology in the lab. Laura has a passion for biosecurity and has developed and taught aquatic biosecurity workshops around the U.S. She also has been involved in organizing classes through NCTC such as “Virology and Cell Culture”, “Identification of Non-Game Fish Species,” and has participated in teaching “Introduction to Fish Health” classes. She is an active member of the Idaho Chapter AFS, helping to teach and organize several continuing education courses and is currently serving as the chair of the Aquaculture committee.  Laura is an AFS Certified Fish Health Inspector and is currently on the AFS Fish Health Section Blue Book Committee. 

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Lower Columbia River Fish Health Center

The Lower Columbia River Fish Health Center originated in 1953 as the first federal fish health center in the northwestern states. Since that time, the staff of one hatchery biologist has expanded to include an administrative assistant and five fish health specialists with expertise in pathology, bacteriology, virology, epidemiology, toxicology, histology, and physiology. The Center provides services to seven lower Columbia River federal fish hatcheries, three tribes, and to state and private facilities upon request. The primary purposes of the Center are to inspect hatchery fish for pathogens, diagnose disease, recommend remedial treatments to maintain good health management, and to monitor the health of wild fish.

201 Oklahoma Road
Willard , WA 98605
Phone: 509.538.2400
Fax: 509.538.2404 

Meet the Staff:

Dr. Susan Gutenberger, Lower Columbia River Fish Health Center Manager          
Susan Gutenberger received a Ph.D. in Microbiology from Oregon State University, a M.S. in Veterinary Science, and a B.S. in Bacteriology/Zoology from the University of Idaho.  She began her career working with fish at the USFWS National Fisheries Research Center in Cook, WA where she discovered that fish do get diseases.  After expanding her experience with monkeys, mice, and elephants at the Oregon Regional Primate Center, she joined Dr. John Fryer's lab at Oregon State University to research the immunology, etiology, molecular sequencing, and antibiotic treatment of bacterial pathogens with a focus on bacterial kidney disease (BKD), which was the primary cause of mortality in salmon aquaculture at the time.  

Dr. Gutenberger began as the Project Leader for the USFWS Lower Columbia River Fish Health Center (LCRFHC) in November 1987.  In this job, she oversees long-range plans for reducing the impacts of fish disease by integrating new and old technologies to accommodate the FWS's efforts for the protection, restoration, supplementation, recovery, and mitigation of salmon, steelhead, lamprey, bull trout, and other wild fish.  The  LCRFHC has expanded its services to include the Yakama Nation's Yakama Klickitat Fisheries Program hatcheries and acclimation sites, along with the Lower Columbia federal hatcheries.  The reduction of BKD and drug therapy has been accomplished at all Chinook hatcheries serviced by the LCRFHC.  The Little White Salmon NFH and the LCRFHC accomplished the reversal of  this disease in an adopted captive brood production program and significantly improved both adult and juvenile survival.  She developed a simple methodology to reduce potential disease transmission from spawned-out adult salmon carcasses which allows managers in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho to "healthfully" use these for nutrient restoration of aquatic environments.

Collaboration with partners from FWS, other federal agencies, Columbia Basin tribes, and the States of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, has expanded the knowledge of wild fish health resulting in beneficial management changes by state hatcheries.  She collaborated with Ecological Services and Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife to develop the health requirements necessary to reduce disease risks and allow the successful reintroduction of out-of-basin bull trout to the Clackamas River.   Dr. Gutenberger also served as a fish health specialist for the USFWS Hatchery Review Team, visiting 21 Columbia Basin and Lower Snake River facilities to assess hatchery programs and draft recommendations for meeting short- and long-term conservation and harvest goals. 

Jackie Leighton,  Fishery Program Assistant           
Jackie transferred to the Lower Columbia River Fish Health Center in 1997 after prior experience working for three federal agencies at five locations in areas of administrative functions, computers, and road maintenance.  Jackie is responsible for all administrative duties for the Fish Health Center.

Kenneth Lujan, Microbiologist           
Ken began working for the USFWS as part of the Student Career Enhancement Program (SCEP).  While enrolled in the program, he worked for the Olympia Ecological Services Office, the Idaho Fish Health Center, and the Lower Columbia River Fish Health Center.  Ken came to work at the Lower Columbia River Fish Health Center after completing the SCEP in 1996.  Ken received a B.S. in Biology from New Mexico Highlands University and a M.S. in Life Science from New Mexico Highlands University.

Spencer Meinzer, Biological Science Technician          
Spencer received a B.S. in Biology from Central Washington University.  He started his career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Lower Columbia River Fish Health Center in 2001 as a temporary employee during spawning season. As a biological science technician, he assists upper level biologists in performing and completing microbiological and laboratory testing.  He has a wide range of duties from tissue collections in the field, to performing cell culture techniques for virology.

Mary Peters, Microbiologist          
Mary earned a B.S. in Psychology and Physical Education at Hope College, a M.S. in Exercise Physiology researching metabolism during exercise, and a M.S. in Biochemistry at Purdue University. Following her academic career, she was employed by the Zairian Ministry of Agriculture and the United States Peace Corps as a fish culture extension agent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, building earthen fish ponds and teaching rural families how to raise tilapia. Her federal career began as a chemist at the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. then continued at the USGS Columbia River Research Laboratory after her move west in 1994.

Mary has been at the Lower Columbia River Fish Health Center since 1995. During her tenure, she has worked with all nine federal and tribal facilities as a fish health specialist. Currently, her two primary facilities are Abernathy Fish Technology Center and Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery. She has been instrumental in improving the health of an endangered run of captive adult spring Chinook and their progeny held at Little White Salmon NFH. She is the lead for running ELISA's, the biochemical assay which detects bacterial kidney disease (BKD) and is the basis for managing the disease in spring Chinook hatchery populations, in all of the female spring Chinook salmon that return to our hatcheries. 

David Thompson,  Microbiologist          
In 1996 David received his B.S in Environmental Science: Emphasis in Aquaculture/Fish Health from Unity College in Maine and in 2003 his M.S in Veterinary Medical Research from Mississippi State University.  He has pursued fish health endeavors in academia, private sector, state, and federal government. David was hired in 2008 at the Lower Columbia River Fish Health Center as a virologist and fish health specialist/diagnostician.

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Olympia Fish Health Center

The Olympia Fish Health Center (OFHC) is located in Olympia Washington. OFHC provides fish health diagnostic, certification, and troubleshooting services to federal hatcheries within western Washington State and the mid-Columbia River area. OFHC will also provide emergency fish health and disease assistance to tribal, state, and private entities on a case-by-case basis.

500 Desmond Drive SE
Lacey, WA 98503
Phone: 360.753.9046
Fax: 360.753.9403

Meet the Staff:

Carrie Cook-Tabor:  Fish Biologist (Acting Olympia FHC Project Leader):          

Sonia has been employed with OFHC as a veterinary medical officer since 2001.  Her duties include diagnostics, inspections, and the National Wild Fish Health Survey.  Sonia is the current lead staff in histology services at OFHC and coordinates, instructs, and cooperates with the National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) on the “Introduction to Fish Histology and Histopathology” course.  She is also the current chair of the National Fish Health Center Database development committee.  In addition to the Fish Health section of the AFS, Sonia is a federally accredited and state licensed veterinarian, a member of the European Association of Fish Pathologists (EAFP), the International Association of Aquatic Animal Medicine (IAAAM), and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).

John "Chris" Patterson: Laboratory Manager/Biologist           
Chris Patterson received his B.S. in Zoology with emphasis on molecular biology from the University of Washington. Chris is currently the Laboratory Manager and is in charge of performing and making sure that all microbiology and laboratory tests are completed in support of the OFHC mission.  During his tenure, he has assisted in the implementation of Enzyme-linked Immunosorbant Assay (ELISA) testing procedures and was responsible for implementing current Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (QPCR) capabilities for the lab.  He works with various database applications and created the OFHC laboratory database that is used at our facility.

Sharon Lutz: Fish Biologist/Microbiologist/Field Diagnostician          
Sharon received her B.S. in Biology from California State University at Humboldt and later completed the USFWS "Identification and Control of Fish Diseases" long course. Sharon was hired in April 2009 with over 15 years of prior experience in fish disease diagnostics in the Pacific Northwest, most at the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. Sharon's duties combine field diagnostics, tissue collections, and laboratory testing. Her skills and experience make her a valuable "cross over" member of the staff enabling a much needed extra capacity to our station.

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About Our Program

The Pacific Region's Fish Heath Program protects the health of salmon propagated at the region's network of 15 National Fish Hatcheries and tribal partner programs. Our veterinarians and biologists--located in three Fish Health Centers located in Olympia, Washington, Orofino, Idaho, and Willard, Washington--assist partners across the Pacific Northwest with fish health issues and conduct the National Wild Fish Health Survey. Dr. Andrew E. Goodwin manages the program.

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