I am a biologist with emphasis on ecology and sustainable development from the Universidad Latina de Costa Rica, MSc in Management and conservation of tropical forests and biodiversity of the Tropical Agricultural Research and Education Centre - CATIE, and PhD in sciences from the Institute of Ecology of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico. My work has been related to the research and conservation planning of tropical vertebrates and ecosystems, and ecology, management and conservation of endangered species. I am currently Professor/Researcher for the Department of Environmental Sciences at Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana - Unidad Lerma in Mexico, and Chairman for ProCAT Colombia and ProCAT Internacional and serve as Co-Chair of the IUCN/SSC Small Carnivore Specialist Group. I have published over 150 articles in national and international journals, indexed and peer reviewed, over 25 book chapters and 15 books, and numerous media articles. I am also currently Director / Editor-in-chief of the Latin American Journal of Conservation (under restructuring), Small Carnivore Conservation and Mammalogy Notes, and member of the editorial board of Frontiers(ecology and evolution), Revista de Biodiversidad Neotropical and Revista Mexicana de Mastozoología. I have also reviewed for numerous scientific journals and also peer reviewer for numerous national and international institutions. Currently, I am part of the Crocodile Specialist Group, the Tapir Specialist Group, the Cat Specialist Group and the Human-Wildlife Conflict Task Force of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, and the World Commission on Protected Areas. Member of several scientific societies such as the American Society of Mammalogists, Society for Conservation Biology, the Colombian Society of Primatology, the Mesoamerican Society for Biology and Conservation, the Colombian Association of Zoology (Board Secretary), and was recently appointed Fellow of The Linnean Society of London. I was awarded the Future for Nature Award (Netherlands), the William T Hornaday and the Oliver P. Pearson Awards from the American Society of Mammalogists, the Jorge El Mono Hernández conservation award from the Colombian Mammalogical Society and the Amigos de la Academia al Joven Científico Colombiano from the Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. I also direct the Wildlife and ecosystems management and conservation research group (Category A) from the Science Ministry (Colombia).
