Book launch with 2011 Fellow Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka
Please join us on Thursday, April 20th, 6:30 – 8:30pm, to celebrate WINGS 2011 Humanity Fellow Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka and the publication of her new book, Walking With Gorillas: The Journey of an African Wildlife Vet.
The first stop on Dr. Gladys’ US tour, this book launch will feature exclusive footage from “Gorilla Trekking Film (Uganda),” a personal reading by Dr. Gladys from her new book, and a conversation with WINGS Flag Carrier Allison Carden Hanes, Founder of One Health Productions. A Q&A session will follow the presentation, and signed books will be available for purchase.
Tickets are $35; the event will be at 476 Broadway, Apt 8F, New York, NY 10013.
“I recommend this book to everyone interested in conservation, alleviating poverty, and the role of women in society. But perhaps most importantly, it is a truly inspiring story of how one determined and dedicated woman overcame many setbacks and faced many dangers to follow and realize her dream.” — JANE GOODALL, PhD, DBE and UN Messenger of Peace
Author:
Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka
Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka (2011 WINGS Humanity Fellow) is one of the leading conservationists and scientists working to save the critically endangered mountain gorillas of East Africa. Her work has been recognized by many distinguished awards such as the 2022 Edinburgh Medal, 2022 Tallberg-Eliason Global Leadership Prize, 2021 UN Champion of the Earth Prize, National Geographic Explorer, the Sierra Club Earthcare Award, and the Whitley Gold Award for outstanding leadership in grassroots nature conservation. 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 son.
Description:
Walking With Gorillas: The Journey of an African Wildlife Vet
Uganda’s 1st wildlife vet and founder of Conservation Through Public Health, Dr. Gladys Kalema- Zikusoka, tells the remarkable story from her animal-loving childhood to her career protecting endangered mountain gorillas and other wild animals. She is also a groundbreaking promoter of human public health and an advocate for revolutionary integrated approaches to saving our planet. In an increasingly interconnected world, animal and human health alike depend on sustainable solutions, and Dr. Gladys has developed an innovative approach to conservation among the endangered Mountain Gorillas of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and their human neighbors.
Walking with Gorillas takes the reader on Dr. Gladys’s personal journey, from her early days as a student in Uganda, enduring the assassination of her father during civil war, to her veterinarian education in England, to establishing the first veterinary department for the Ugandan government, to founding one of the first organizations in the world that enables people to coexist with wildlife through improving the health and wellbeing of both. Her award-winning approach reduced the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on critically endangered mountain gorillas.
In the face of discrimination and a male dominated world, one woman’s passion and determination to build a brighter future for the local wildlife and human community offers inspiration and insights into what is truly possible for our planet when we come together.
Allison Carden Hanes
Primatologist and producer Allison Hanes carried the WINGS Flag to the Mentawai Islands of Indonesia in 2019, where she studied the relationship between humans and gibbons. Allison earned her MSc degree in Primate Conservation at Oxford Brookes University, where she focused on assessing disease transmission between humans and the mountain gorillas of Uganda. While studying in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Dr. Gladys was her graduate field supervisor. They recently partnered to complete “Gorilla Trekking Film (Uganda)” which, based on Allison’s graduate research and recommendations, prepares tourists for their trekking experience. Based in Brooklyn, NY, Allison makes films across many disciplines, including wildlife, science, tech, human rights and the arts.
Event Details:
When: April 20th, 6:30-8:30pm
Where: 476 Broadway, Apt 8F, New York, NY 10013.
Tickets: $35
