Rodrigo Medellín

Ecologist Dr. Rodrigo Medellín is helping to change human perception of the bat, from blood-sucking villain to nature’s unsung hero. A leader in the field of mammal conservation, Medellín is a professor of ecology and conservation at the Institute of Ecology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where he is also working on saving Mexico’s jaguars. The majority of Medellín’s work, however, is dedicated to bats: he founded RELCOM, a network for conservation of bats in Latin America in 2007, and co-chairs the IUCN Bat Specialist Group. Medellín has authored more than 170 publications, trained more than 40 graduate students and oversees projects and/or students in 16 countries on five continents.