Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka

2022 Edinburgh Medal recipient, National Geographic Explorer, and winner of the Sierra Club Earthcare Award, Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka has been a life-long champion of wildlife, from the early days of looking after stray animals at home, to setting up a wildlife club at school. As an African woman growing up in a male dominated society, she found the determination and courage to overcome the many obstacles to her gender to become Uganda’s first wildlife vet, treating the critically endangered mountain gorillas of Bwindi National Park. From there, she founded her non-profit, Conservation Through Public Health, a systems-changing policy of making human health a priority to assure the health of wildlife, and the social enterprise, Gorilla Conservation Coffee to protect endangered gorillas, create health and prosperity for the local human communities, and be a caretaker for our planet. She lives outside Kampala, Uganda, with her husband and sons.