Mike Boots’s research centers on the ecology, epidemiology, and evolution of infectious disease. His work addresses the substantial burden parasites and pathogens place on human health, agriculture, and natural ecosystems. The overarching goal of his research program is to understand how parasites evolve, how hosts defend themselves, and how infectious organisms spread, persist, and influence host populations. His group employs a combination of evolutionary theory, experimental host–parasite systems, epidemiological models of wildlife and human tropical diseases, and field entomology. Boots’s theoretical and experimental work focuses on the role of ecology in generating and maintaining diversity within hosts and parasites, the influence of spatial structure on their evolution, and the implications of tolerance versus resistance in response to infectious disease. His lab is increasingly applying evolutionary theory to the management of human and agricultural diseases. In addition to broader theoretical efforts, the group studies several specific disease systems, including squirrel poxvirus; social networks and tuberculosis in badgers; tuberculosis in wild boar populations; honeybee–Varroa mite–virus interactions; dengue and emerging tropical viruses; and human and avian malaria.