Dr. Juliana Machado Ferreira founded and serves as Executive Director of FREELAND Brasil, whose mission is to conserve biodiversity by ending wildlife trafficking.  She designs and implements projects with three major focuses: reducing demand for wild pets and wildlife parts and products through educational efforts and awareness actions; supporting law enforcement against wildlife trafficking, international articulation and facilitation for the development of a regional wildlife enforcement network; and developing scientific research to produce tools for law enforcement use. Ferreira’s ultimate goal is to establish an independent wildlife forensics laboratory in Brazil that will develop dedicated research and perform high quality forensic analyses on wildlife crime evidence for all South American countries. Ferreira is a TED Senior Fellow and received her Ph.D. in Conservation Genetics from Sao Paulo University. 

Born: 1980

Hometown: São Paulo, Brazil Education: Ph.D. in Biology (Genetics)

Occupation: Executive Director of Freeland Brasil

Expeditions: Counter wildlife trafficking on the ground work with SOS Fauna during police raids

Favorite Place: The beaches of Ubatuba, São Paulo with my husband and daughter

Best Discoveries: Brazilian wild bird species that displayed different genetic populations

Favorite Item In The Field: A machete in case I run into some men who think a woman should not be in the field and a GPS

Personal Heroes: People who dedicate their lives for a greater good

Hobbies: Outdoor activities and watching movies

Website: www.freeland.org

Advice: Hearing a lot of “nos” may mean that you need to revise your projects and goals.

Header photo by Claire Thibault on Pexels.com and used with Creative Commons license.