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Neil Vora, MD, is the Senior Advisor for One Health at Conservation International and Executive Director of the Preventing Pandemics at the Source Coalition. He previously served with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for nearly a decade. Neil deployed to Liberia in 2014 and to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2019 to assist in the responses to the two largest Ebola outbreaks ever; from 2020-2021, Neil developed and led New York City’s COVID-19 contact tracing program, through which he oversaw a team of over 3,000 staff that traced more than 700,000 affected New Yorkers. He still sees patients in a public tuberculosis clinic in New York City. Outside of work, Neil loves to spend time with his rescue pets and to train in Brazilian jiu jitsu.
In what ways does nature inspire or inform your work?
My life’s purpose is to protect nature and protect people. There is no future for humanity without nature. Nature is awe-inspiring and wonderful; it’s pure magic.
What does it mean to you to be part of a thriving ecosystem?
It begins with recognizing that “humans are a part of nature, not apart from nature”. In practice, this means that we recognize that we need nature to survive. With this awareness, we can repair humanity’s broken relationship with nature and give all forms of life a chance to survive.
