Learning
Muskingum University to Host Dr. Benard Ssebide, Head Veterinarian for Gorilla Doctors
Muskingum University will welcome Dr. Benard Ssebide, head veterinarian for the Gorilla Doctors in Uganda, for a special presentation at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 9. The event, free and open to the public, will be held in the Boyd Science Center, Room 336.
Dr. Ssebide, who also leads the PREDICT project in Uganda, has been part of the Gorilla Doctors organization since 2007. His current work is focused on looking for evidence of emerging zoonotic viruses in primates, rodents, bats and other wild animals in Uganda. Prior to joining Gorilla Doctors, Dr. Ssebide worked for for the Ugandan Wildlife Authority, first as a veterinarian and then as chief park warden of Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.
Gorilla Doctors is dedicated to saving the mountain and eastern lowland (Grauer’s) gorilla species through live-saving veterinary medicine and a One Health approach that recognizes the health of people is connected to the health of animals and the environment. The group’s international veterinary team provides hands-on medical care to ill and injured mountain and Grauer’s gorillas living in the national parks of Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Dr. Ssebide received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Master of Science degrees in wildlife health management from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.
For more information on the event, please contact Muskingum University’s Science Division at 740-826-8220 or email Diane Newsom at dnewsom@muskingum.edu.
