Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka

Women around the world are constantly creating ways to make a difference in their communities, and today's guest is no exception.

Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is founder and CEO of Conservation Through Public Health, a Ugandan NGO and US-registered non-profit established in 2003.

She was named to the BBC 100 Women's List in 2023, and her work was featured on CNN's Call to Earth in 2025 and BBC's People Fixing the World in 2026.

She was also named among the 2026 CNN Heroes.

In the Gorillas' Midst by Ben Goldfarb.

To keep Uganda's mountain gorillas healthy, Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is starting with their neighbors first.

In spring 2020, as COVID-19 erupted worldwide, Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka feared less for her own health than for the mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, 120 square miles of misty rainforest in Uganda's southwest corner.

Around 40,000 tourists visit Bwindi annually, bearing pathogens from around the world.

In 2009, a pair of Rwandan gorillas died from a respiratory virus likely transmitted by a tourist, and Kalema-Zikusoka, a Ugandan wildlife veterinarian, knew that the coronavirus posed an even greater threat.

The first article is entitled In the Gorilla's Midst, M-I-D-S-T.

To keep Uganda's mountain gorillas healthy, Gladys Kalema Zikusoka is starting with their neighbors first.

In spring 2020, as COVID-19 erupted worldwide, Gladys Kalema Zikusoka feared less for her own health than for the mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, 120 square miles of misty rainforest in Uganda's southwest corner.

Around 40,000 tourists visit Bwindi annually, bearing pathogens from around the world.

In 2009, a pair of Rwandan gorillas died from a respiratory virus likely transmitted by a tourist, and Kalema Zikusoka, a Ugandan wildlife veterinarian, knew that the coronavirus posed an even greater threat.

Among other measures, it has installed handwashing stations, dewormed livestock, and dissuaded locals from eating wild game for the sake of both conservation and disease prevention.

This article is by Ben Goldfarb with photographs by Robin Hammond.

The first photograph is of Dr. Gladys Kalema Zikusoka, wildlife veterinarian, who is a The caption reads that she is a pioneering and emerging method of protecting endangered primates in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park by focusing on diseases that can be transmitted between humans and animals.