Marie Victoria Lilly is a Ph.D. student interested in how socio-ecological factors influence zoonotic disease emergence and transmission. Marie holds a B.A. in Biology and Hispanic studies from Oberlin College and completed a Fulbright grant in Colombia, South America. For her M.S. in Ecology at San Francisco State University, Marie focused her research on the role of host community composition in Lyme disease transmission on the West Coast. At Columbia University, Marie aims to better understand vector-borne pathogen transmission across urban gradients and use these findings to inform equitable disease risk management.

Emily Driscoll is an Emmy Award-winning documentary director and editor, and the founder of BonSci Films, a production company specializing in science and art documentaries. Her films and series highlight environmental issues and scientific innovations, from exploring how to protect the waterways of the Navajo Nation to sharing stories of the women engineers behind India’s mission to Mars.

She has produced and directed short films for Scientific American, Quanta Magazine, the World Science Festival and Science Friday, including the HHMI/Science Friday series “Breakthrough: Portraits of Women in Science”, an anthology of six films featuring women in science across STEM fields. Her recent films include “The Bat Man and Woman of India” and “The Quest to Save Parasites”.

Emily taught production at New York University’s Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program (SHERP) and has a master’s degree from the same program.

Ilan Moss was trained as a journalist and has over 15 years of experience communicating for United Nations agencies and non-profits in North America, Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Ilan joined DNDi in its New York office in 2015. Previously, he worked at Unitaid in Geneva, Switzerland. He has also worked with the US Department of State as a global health communications consultant, training reporters during the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak, and in 2017 trained over 30 provincial health directors in the Democratic Republic of Congo to better respond to disease outbreaks.

Ilan’s work has been published in Reuters, Guardian, Huffington Post, OECD Observer, Jerusalem Post, Forward, JTA, Food Republic, Miami Post, Latin Business Chronicle, True Africa, and many other news outlets and websites. He is a graduate of New York University and has a Master’s degree in Political Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Dr. Stephen Pekar is a geology professor in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Queens College (City University of New York) and has researched past climate and oceanographic changes during times (16- 55 million years ago) when CO 2 was as high as what is predicted for the 21 st century (500-1000 ppm). To investigate climate change of the past, he examines microfossils (i.e., shells made by one-celled organisms), and develops geochemical data obtained from sedimentary cores drilled from near-shore to deep-sea locations ranging from the tropics to Antarctica. His research has taken him on expeditions around the world, including four to Antarctica, one of which he was co-project leader.

Ladis Ndahiriwe is Akagera’s Park Manager.

He is licensed in fuel, diesel and hydraulics engineering and has a Technical Education Diploma. Ladis gained 28 years’ experience in conservation projects as a Field Operation Manager for the European Union (Ecofac & Curess in Odzala, Dja and Zakouma), before joining African Parks in 2008 in Garamba National Park.

He worked there until 2013, before moving to Akagera National Park in Rwanda as the Field Operations Manager, and now Park Manager. While in Akagera, Ladis has helped oversee the reintroduction of lions and Eastern Black rhino, the building of the western perimeter fence, introduction of high-tech wildlife monitoring systems and numerous infrastructure projects that have turned Akagera into a world-class conservation and tourism destination.

His goal is to continue to build up Akagera as a blueprint for effective conservation management, driving economic benefits locally and nationally.

Born and educated in Zimbabwe, Dave Wilson completed a BSc  (Hons) in Wildlife science and Agribusiness from the University of KwaZulu Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. 

After university he was selected and attended the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst in 2001 and commissioned as a British Army officer serving as an Infantry Officer in both the Parachute and Duke of Wellington’s Regiments. He resigned his commission in 2007 as a senior Captain. Before leaving the Army he undertook an Institute of Leadership and Management Level 5 Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management at the Bristol Management Centre, UK.

Prior to African Parks, he occupied senior positions in operations, General management and executive directorship over 14 years in the Safari industry. Principally within the renowned luxury safari company Norman Carr Safaris in Zambia and subsequently in the Time and Tide group.

Dr. Glenn Bush, Associate Scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center, is an environmental economist driven by a desire to find equitable trade-offs between human development, forest, and biodiversity conservation. He is interested in how individual behavior and economic structures influence the outcomes of international environmental policies and local management practices. Focusing on households and enterprises in agricultural communities in tropical forest landscapes, his research focused on promoting indigenous through community-orientated approaches to conservation management. He applies this knowledge to design and evaluate strategies for driving sustainable development and investment incentives for forest and biodiversity conservation through policy training and capacity-building programs. He has lived in and worked on issues in the Nile, Congo, and Amazon Basin regions since the mid-90s for various international government development agencies, research institutions, NGOs, and private sector organizations.