Dr. Benard Jasper Ssebide
Dr. Ssebide has a degree in Veterinary Medicine and a Masters degree in Wildlife Health and Management. He joined the staff of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP, Inc.) as a field veterinarian in Uganda in 2007, and then transitioned to become MGVP, Inc.’s Country Coordinator for the PREDICT Project in Uganda in 2010, and MGVP’s Country Head Veterinarian in 2014. As the PREDICT Country Coordinator, Ssebide led a field team that collected samples from more than 3000 wild primates, bats and rodents for the detection of potentially zoonotic viruses in wildlife with a high degree of contact with people. He had primary responsibility for: implementing systematic sampling across a variety of landscapes and at a variety of human-animal interfaces; supervising staff in the field and office; liaising with the in-country diagnostic laboratory to facilitate sample testing; rapid and accurate data entry; communications with government and non-governmental partners and stakeholders; budget management; and representing PREDICT on the Government of Uganda’s National Task Force for several disease outbreak investigations. Prior to joining MGVP, Inc.,Dr. Ssebide worked for the Ugandan Wildlife Authority, first as a Veterinarian and then as Chief Park Warden of Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in southwestern Uganda. Dr Ssebide has significant experience in many aspects of wildlife health and conservation, including but not limited to: wildlife veterinary interventions and disease investigation; wildlife captures and translocations; monitoring of wildlife populations, census and habitat assessments; community conservation; and protected area management, planning and evaluations.