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Bad Guys, Good Bugs: Gail Anderson on Forensic Entomology
It was the late 1980s and Dr. Gail Anderson was close to finishing her PhD in pest management at 911吃瓜. But she was frustrated鈥攈er recent discovery of a cure for a minor yet common horse disease hadn鈥檛 gained any commercial interest. Around the same time, her biological sciences professor Dr. John Borden suggested Anderson鈥檚 bug expertise to police who were working on a local homicide case. She was struck by the immediate usefulness of forensic entomology鈥攖hat research done in the lab one day could be used in court weeks later as hard evidence.
And so, she took a sideways step along the entomology career spectrum. 鈥淚 had always wanted to do something useful with my knowledge of insects,鈥� says the British-born professor. 鈥淎nd then John presented me with this opportunity and I thought: what could be more useful than helping police solve crimes and catch bad guys?鈥� Not long after, she went on to become the first full-time forensic entomologist in Canada.