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From the venomous King Cobras living in the jungles of South Asia, to the harmless Garter snakes living in North American backyards, there are over 3,000 species of snake across our planet. Except for Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Newfoundland, and New Zealand, snakes are found everywhere. Of the 3,000 species of snake on our earth, only about 200, or 7%, are able to kill or significantly wound a human. Regardless of their slim potential to harm humans, snakes continue to incite fear and suspicion amongst the general public; even despite their natural and integral roles in our world’s ecosystems.

Join our panelists to learn more about the science of snakes and how they are playing an important role in advancing modern medicine and healthcare.

Streaming live here on explorers.org, our YouTube Channel, and our Facebook Live — Monday, November 15 at 7:00 pm ET.

Speakers

Jordan Benjamin

Jordan Benjamin is a herpetologist, wilderness paramedic, and scientist with more than a decade of experience in snakebite treatment, research, and training in rural sub-Saharan Africa. Jordan is an expert in the clinical management of snakebites and other envenomations in austere, wilderness, and operational medicine environments. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine and serves as a primary subject matter expert on austere snake envenomation management for the United States Department of Defense and special operations medicine community.

Jordan is passionate about improving patient outcomes in the remote areas where 95% of snakebites occur and working in the field alongside local partners to develop innovative, sustainable solutions in the places with the greatest need. He is preparing to apply to medical school and plans to devote his career as a physician working to address the burden of snakebite in Africa and elsewhere in the developing world.

Kate Jackson

Dr. Kate Jackson (Ph.D. Harvard University, Hon.B.Sc., M.Sc. University of Toronto) is Professor of Biology at Whitman College, in Walla Walla, Washington, where she teaches courses in comparative anatomy, herpetology, vertebrate evolution, and general zoology. Kate is a herpetologist whose research explores the morphology, biodiversity, and evolution of amphibians and reptiles, with a regional specialization in central Africa and a taxonomic focus on snakes, the snake venom-delivery system, and snakebite. Her research team includes her (current and former) undergraduate students in the US and (current and former) graduate students in the Republic of Congo. Together, they carry out field-based and collections-based research, contributing to a strong herpetological foundation on which both biodiversity conservation and snakebite management initiatives can build. Kate is the author of three books, including most recently Snakes of Central and Western Africa (2019, Johns Hopkins University Press, with co-author J-P. Chippaux), as well as over 40 scientific articles and book chapters.

Nicklaus Brandehoff

Dr. Nicklaus Brandehoff is board-certified in emergency medicine, medical toxicology, and addiction medicine with a passion for herpetology and a specialization in the research and treatment of envenomations. He received his Doctorate of Medicine from the University of California San Francisco, completed residency in Emergency Medicine at UCSF-Fresno, and subsequently went on to complete a Medical Toxicology Fellowship at the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center.

Dr. Brandehoff practices emergency medicine and medical toxicology in both Colorado and California. He has an appointment as Assistant Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, is faculty at the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center and Denver Health. He has won numerous awards as an educator and published multiple articles and book chapters on the subject of envenomations.

Matthew Lewin

Dr. Lewin is a recognized expert in expedition and field medicine, with emergency medicine board certification and a PhD in the field of neurophysiology. He is an elected fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians, and has been a National fellow of the Explorers Club since 2009. He is a member of the Board of the North American Society of Toxinology, and serves as a subject matter expert for the WHO Snakebite Envenoming Working Group. He earned his MD and PhD at the University of Texas-MD Anderson Cancer Center Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and was its Distinguished Alumnus in 2021 for work on snakebite and COVID. He earned his BSc degree at the University of California, Berkeley and continues to work on and support scientific expeditions as a contributing scientist and physician. He is the founder of the Public Benefit Corporation, Ophirex, Inc. with ongoing Phase II clinical trials for snakebite envenoming and severe SARS-CoV-2 associated lung injury.