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About Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka

Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is Founder and CEO of Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH), an award-winning NGO and non-profit that protects endangered gorillas and other wildlife through One Health approaches. After graduating with a Bachelor in Veterinary Medicine from the Royal Veterinary College, University of London in 1995, she established Uganda Wildlife Authority’s first veterinary department in 1996. In 2000, she enrolled in a Zoological Medicine Residency and Master in Specialized Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina Zoological Park and North Carolina State University, where masters research on disease at the human/wildlife/livestock interface led her to found CTPH in 2003. In 2003, she also completed a certificate in non-profit management at Duke University. In 2015, she founded Gorilla Conservation Coffee to support farmers living around habitats where gorillas are found. CTPH’s most recent award is the 2020 Saint Andrews Prize for the Environment.

Dr Kalema-Zikusoka became an Ashoka Fellow in 2007, a National Geographic Explorer in 2018 and a Mulago Foundation Henry Arnhold Fellow in 2018. In 2023, she received an honorary doctorate from her alma mater, Royal Veterinary College, University of London. She won the 2008 San Diego Zoo Conservation-in-Action Award, 2009 Whitley Gold Award; 2011 WINGS Women of Discovery and Exploration Humanity Award, 2017 President of
Uganda’s Golden Jubilee Award for her contribution to the nation as a veterinarian and conservationist, 2018 Sierra Club EarthCare Award, and was a finalist for the 2019 Tusk Award for Conservation in Africa. In 2020 she received the Uganda Veterinary Association World Veterinary Day Award, Aldo Leopold Award for Mammologists and became a COVID-19 heroine for the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Foundation. In 2021, she was recognised by Avance Media as one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Africa and won the United Nations Environment Program Champions of the Earth Laureate in the Science and Innovation Category. In 2022, she received the Edinburgh Medal for Science and Humanity for her work in planetary health, and won the Tallberg-SNF-Elliasson global leadership prize.

In 2023 she was a finalist for the Indianapolis Prize for Animal Conservation, and was recognised as a Population Matters World Population Day Change Champion in the Earth Champion category. BBC 100 Women recognised Dr Kalema-Zikusoka in their 2023 100 inspiring and influential women in the climate pioneer category, ahead of COP28. She is currently the Chairperson of the Explorers Club Africa Chapter; on the leadership council of Women for the Environment – Africa; and Vice President of the African Primatological Society. In 2021 she became a member of the WHO SAGO - Scientific Advisory Group for the Origin of Novel Pathogens, and joined the advisory committee of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) One Health Research, Education, and Outreach (OHRECA).

Dr. Kalema-Zikusoka is the author and co-author of 2 books and over 60 papers and book chapters. Her most recent book was published in 2023, a memoir “Walking with Gorillas: the Journey of an African Wildlife Vet, about her conservation and leadership journey shaped by One Health.