Gorilla Doctors is happy to announce our latest hire, Dr. Sophie Bosh, who will manage the health care program at the Lwiro Primate Sanctuary. Gorilla Doctors was recently asked by partners to provide leadership for health care for animals at Lwiro.

As an introduction, we asked Sophie, who studied veterinary medicine at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, a few questions about herself. Check out her answers below. She loves to write, so watch for her name on future blog posts. She should have some great stories and insights to share from Lwiro. Feel free to welcome Sophie in the comments.

What attracted you to this role with Gorilla Doctors? 

I have been following the work of the Gorilla Doctors with great interest for many years. Great apes are on the brink of extinction and I have always wanted to become a part of their conservation. This specific role offered by Gorilla Doctors attracted me because it involves veterinary capacity building in the region and setting up a thorough health care program for great apes and other primates in a sanctuary setting, which I have gained much experience with over the past few years working for the Lilongwe Wildlife Center, the Laos Wildlife Rescue Center and participating at the Zambia Chimp Project at Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage.

What do you find most interesting about the health care program?

The health care program of the Gorilla Doctors is set up from a One Health perspective. Within this program, preventative medicine plays a key role, which I find most interesting. It involves analyzing potential health or disease risks and reducing these risks through preventative methods. This is involves setting up hygiene protocols, quarantine procedures, and providing preventative veterinary care to the animals.

In your time working with great apes, do you have a memory or story that stands out?

After graduating from vet school, I got into contact with the International Primate Heart Project in the UK; their research is focused on cardiac disease in great apes. I helped them connect their project with Dutch zoos and assisted them on various occasions with data collection, performing echocardiography on several chimpanzees and gorillas. It was my first time working with gorillas and I felt very privileged to be a part of that project.

 

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