Assistant Professor/Africa DirectorUCLA Center for Tropical Research
I am an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, and the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. I am also the Associate Director and Africa Director at the UCLA Center for Tropical Research. My current research interests are in ecology and evolution of emerging tropical diseases as well as examining the link between biodiversity and human health. I also serve as a visiting Professor to the National University of Rwanda and to the International Bilingual Academy (IBAYSup) in Yaounde Cameroon where my major focus is on critical overview of the theory and practice of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) relative to biodiversity conservation, ecotourism and sustainable development. I also serve on several professional bodies including the Board of Governors of the Society for Conservation Biology; Council Member of the Pan African Ornithological Congress Committee (PAOCC), and member of the editorial board for Austin Environmental Sciences, a newly initiated peer-reviewed open access journal with an aim to develop a platform for innovative researchers working in the areas of Environmental Sciences Articles related to the most recent advancement in the field. I also review several peer-reviewed journals.
I grew up in Cameroon, a country of enchanting beauty and rich biodiversity but poor governance, high aptitude for environmental destruction and poverty. As a child, I suffered from constant malaria attacks that may well have resulted from inefficient health policy and corruption. Over time, I have come to believe that the only way to solve our environmental and health issues was to use the "big tent" approach, where environmental biologists, community health workers and policy analysts work alongside epidemiologists and other scientists.