Dr. Nathan Wolfe is the Lorry I. Lokey Visiting Professor in Human Biology at Stanford University and Director of the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative. He received his bachelor’s degree from Stanford in 1993 and his doctorate in Immunology & Infectious Diseases from Harvard in 1998. The recipient of a Fulbright fellowship in 1997, Dr. Wolfe was awarded the National Institutes of Health (NIH) International Research Scientist Development Award in 1999 and the prestigious NIH Director's Pioneer Award in 2005.

Dr. Wolfe has published over 50 articles and chapters. Among his major findings include the discovery of the first evidence of natural transmission of retroviruses from nonhuman primates to humans. His work has been published in or covered by Nature, Science, The Lancet, PNAS, JAMA, The New York Times, The Economist, Wired, Discover, Scientific American, NPR, Popular Science, Seed, and Forbes. He has received research support totaling over $20m in grants and contracts from the Google.org, The Skoll Foundation, NIH, the National Science Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Geographic Society, Merck Research Laboratories and various branches of the US Department of Defense, including: the Global Emerging Infections Surveillance & Response System (GEIS), HIV/AIDS Prevention Program (DHAPP), and the US Military HIV Research Program (USMHRP). He has extensive consulting experience and has served on a number of advisory and editorial boards, including, since 2004, the editorial board of EcoHealth and since 2008, DARPA’s Defense Science Research Council (DSRC).

Dr. Wolfe has over eight years of full-time experience living and conducting biomedical research in Southeast Asia (Malaysia) and sub-Saharan Africa (Cameroon, Uganda). He founded and directs the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative (GVFI), a pandemic early warning system which monitors the spillover of novel infectious agents from animals into humans. GVFI coordinates activities of over 100 scientists and staff from countries around the world. He currently has active research and public health projects in Cameroon, China, Central African Republic, DR Congo, PR Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Lao, Madagascar, Malaysia and Sao Tome.

Dr. Wolfe has received a number of awards, including the National Geographic Emerging Explorers Award, a Fulbright fellowship, and the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award (NIH’s $2.5m ‘genius’ award). He was named as one of Popular Science’s ‘Brilliant 10’ (2005) and Rolling Stone’s ‘Top 100 Agents of Change’, (#53, 2009).

Dr. Wolfe’s work has received extensive popular attention, including, among others, features in The New York Times, Wired, The Economist, Men’s Journal, and Der Spiegel. His work has been featured in documentaries for National Geographic and CNN’s Planet in Peril, and he has had multiple appearances on NPR and National Geographic Weekend.

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