Ilka Herbinger

Dr. Ilka Herbinger is a biologist and anthropologist and joined WWF Germany since 2011, currently as Program Lead for Central and West Africa. Already as part of her doctoral thesis with wild chimpanzees in Côte d’Ivoire, she dealt with the prevention of disease transmission between great apes and humans. At WWF she has set up a one health program and an early warning system on zoonoses in ecotourism projects with great apes in four Central African countries. Here, the state of health of wild animals, their habitat and people in close contact with wild animals are monitored using innovative methods in functional field laboratories. The development of zoonotic diseases and the spread of pathogens is being investigated in various usage zones such as national parks, community hunting areas and timber concessions. She is member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission/ Primate Specialist group as well as of African based conservation trust funds and author of various conservation relevant publications.