Ricardo Moratelli Mendonça da Rocha

I am a taxonomist and wildlife biologist, with Masters and PhD degrees in Zoology. Since 2006, I work as a scientist for the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) where I coordinate a multidisciplinary team in the Environmental Health Area of the Atlantic Forest Fiocruz Campus. I have honorary appointments as Affiliate Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, CNPq Research Productivity Fellow, Faperj Young Scientist and Research Associate at the Smithsonians National Museum of Natural History. I am professor and advisor at the graduate programs in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) and Biodiversity and Health (Oswaldo Cruz Foundation). My research is based on museum collections and fieldwork, and my interest is in mammalogy and One Health, extending through different topics in zoology, biogeography, ecology of zoonotic diseases, animal health, conservation biology, and museum collections -- a research program I call translational zoology. My main projects are focused on (i) the systematics, biogeography and natural history of Neotropical bats; (ii) ecology of zoonotic diseases associated with mammals; and (iii) biological surveys and biodiversity conservation in the Rio de Janeiro Atlantic Forest. Results of my research on taxonomy include descriptions of ten species of South American bats (some of them highly profiled in the international press, including Nature, National Geographic, BBC, Discovery, The Washington Post). Results on my research on zoonotic diseases include surveys of bat trypanosomatids, viruses and bacteria, as well as a review on bats and viruses, with evolutionary-based hypotheses for their co-evolution. I have served as associate editor for the Journal of Mammalogy (American Society of Mammalogists), Mastozoologia Neotropical (Sociedade Argentina para el Estudio de los Mamíferos), Zoologia (Sociedade Brasileira de Zoologia) and 2 other scientific journals, and reviewer for > 40 journals. I also served as president of the Brazilian Bat Research Society (2010-2013; 2015-2017), and chair of its Education Committee, for which, I organized trainings in bat biology for students and professionals from different regions of Brazil. (Fonte: CV Lattes)