Dr. Kimberly Davenport

Dr. Kimberly Davenport received her Ph.D. from the University of Idaho in livestock genetics. During her graduate program, Dr. Davenport contributed to the assembly and functional annotation of gene regulatory elements in the sheep reference genome among several other projects. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Missouri, where she studied placental development in cattle. In August 2023, Dr. Davenport joined the faculty in the Department of Animal Science at Washington State University as an Assistant Professor and part of the Functional Genomics Initiative. Her research program focuses on genetic and epigenetic mechanisms governing economically important traits in livestock, with a particular interest in fertility. Dr. Davenport aims to develop a better understanding of the genetic and comparative aspects of fertility traits across mammalian species to mitigate pregnancy loss. Further, she will ultimately translate her work to equip livestock producers with beneficial new technology and tools to improve sustainability of farms globally.