David Tumusiime

David Tumusiime is the current project director of the Makerere University Biological Field Station in Kibale. David holds B.Sc. in Forestry (Makerere University), a Masters in Natural Resources Management and Sustainable Agriculture, and PhD in Environment and Development studies (Norway). He is also a Professor of Environment and Natural resources in the School of Forestry, Environmental and Geographical Sciences at Makerere University in Uganda.

He has a strong background of interdisciplinary training and is as such able to think across and see beyond disciplinary boundaries and typically draws on perspectives from a variety of fields including sociology, economics, and political ecology. His research interests include human dimensions of natural resources management, policy analysis, biodiversity assessments, landscape restoration, forest ecology, and primate behavior. David is also a part time farmer.

Here is a copy of David’s CV

Patrick Omeja

Dr. Patrick Omeja – a Senior Research Fellow at Makerere University, received his training at Makerere University with stints abroad at McGill University in Canada.  He is a conservation scientist interested in forest restoration and given the importance of elephant in African ecosystems has a keen interest in elephant ecology.  He has worked in Kibale National Park, Uganda for almost 20 years and now plays a central role in the operation and promotion of Makerere University Biological Field Station.  He is acutely aware that for conservation projects to work, they need to involve the local communities, and thus has initiated and is a key playing in a number of conservation programs in Uganda.

Here is a copy of Patrick’s CV and a document of all his publications.

Denis Natamba

Nurse Denis (Denis Natamba) started working for the Kibale Health and Conservation Clinic before the clinic was even built, and he helped with the planning.  He has continued to provide great help to the local community since then.  He is in charge of all day to day activities.  Denis helps us bring basic health care, family planning, deworming, HIV/AIDS treatment and counselling, vaccinations, and health and conservation education to the villages near the field station. Denis plays all sorts of vital roles. For example, currently, if local community members receive treatment, they only pay for the replacement cost of the drugs they are given, and only those drugs that are not covered by the Ministry of Health. Vaccinations, deworming medicine, and anti-retroviruses for AIDS are free. Nurse Denis is responsible for buy the medicines, getting what we can from the Ministry for free, keeping the accounts in order, and doing all the detailed reports required for the Ministry and those we need to document our successes and failures.

The thing that makes Nurse Denis indispensable is his warm and welcoming personality, which makes him a talented educator and a friend to so many people in the community.

Kato Innocent

Kato Innocent has been working at the field station for over 2 decades.  Kato comes from the town of Bigodi, just 10 km south of the station.  For researchers and people who run field courses and workshops, Kato is your “Go-To-Person” for your day to day operations and for local information.  He will ensure that all your typical needs, and even unusual requests are met, and he does so with a smile.