Dr. A. Alonso Aguirre is Chair and Professor at the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, where he heads a program of collaborative research that focuses on the ecology of wildlife disease and the links to human health and conservation of biodiversity. He also chairs the university Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. He has worked for the past three decades in over 23 countries focusing on integrative research, transdisciplinarity, professional leadership training and capacity building. He served as the Executive Director of the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation. Previously he was Senior Vice President at EcoHealth Alliance (formerly known as Wildlife Trust) in New York also holding different appointments at the Consortium for Conservation Medicine, the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation at Columbia University and the Center for Conservation Medicine at Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Aguirre cofounded the emerging discipline of conservation medicine and is senior editor of both seminal books. His new book “Tropical Conservation: Perspectives on Local and Global Priorities” was released in 2016. He has published over 160 peer-reviewed articles. He cofounded the Journal EcoHealth and the International Association of Ecology and Health. He is also associate editor of the Journal of Wildlife Diseases and the European Journal of Wildlife Management. Dr. Aguirre has advised governments of several countries in the Americas, Southeast Asia and Western Europe and briefed the U.S. and Mexican Congresses. He has received numerous awards including the Colorado State University Warner College of Natural Resources Distinguished Alumnus Award, the Harry Jalanka Memorial Medal from Finland for outstanding contributions to wildlife medicine and the Conservation Award of the Year from the Mexico State Commission of Natural Parks and Wildlife for his role in conserving protected areas for monarch butterflies. He recently was appointed to the Board on Life Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences.