Kevin J. Olival

Dr. Kevin J. Olival is an ecologist and evolutionary biologist with a passion for conservation and policy. A Senior Research Fellow with Wildlife Trust, he graduated with distinction from Columbia University in 2008 with a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and M.A. in Conservation Biology. His dissertation research focused on the population genetics and geographic distributions of large fruit bats in Southeast Asia, with implications for Nipah virus dynamics and emergence. Kevin has conducted month-long expeditions to Southeast Asia, and then spent nearly a year working in four countries of Southeast Asia capturing bats and collecting samples, and collaborating closely with local scientists and NGOs. During his studies at Columbia University, Kevin received an Environmental Policy Certificate with a focus on international, environmental and emerging disease policy and had the opportunity to intern in Malaysia with Wildlife Trust to learn techniques in wildlife veterinary medicine. Kevin has a passion for turning rigorous science into effective public policy, and aims to keep this as a central goal of his career development.

Prior to joining the team at Wildlife Trust, Kevin completed a post-doc at the American Museum of Natural History, working closely with Drs. Susan Perkins and Nancy Simmons investigating the evolution of bats and their associated parasites and pathogens. His work at the AMNH included discovering several new blood-borne parasites in bats; molecular systematics of non-human Plasmodium parasites; meta-analysis of bat species to determine the underlying factors that affect genetic structure and viral diversity; and phylogeny of Pteropus spp. using museum specimens and ancient DNA techniques. Kevin has unique skills in both the field and laboratory that include ecological techniques to capture and survey for bats, experience with satellite telemetry of wildlife, molecular biology, population genetic and phylogenetic analyses, and molecular evolution.

Kevin was recently awarded a prestigious NIH Fogarty US Global Health Postdoctoral fellowship award to expand Wildlife Trust’s work on the ecology of Nipah virus in Bangladesh. As a Fogarty fellow, Kevin will continue to build on his international career in infectious disease epidemiology in developing countries in South and Southeast Asia. As part of the Wildlife Trust team, Kevin’s work will focus on understanding the emergence and ecology of Nipah virus; predicting the ‘unknown’ diversity of zoonotic pathogens (particularly bat-borne); and developing appropriate policy interventions to prevent the emergence of novel zoonoses.

Publications include: