Tierra Smiley Evans, DVM, PhD

Tierra Smiley Evans, DVM, PhD, is adjunct faculty at the One Health Institute, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and assistant professor of Emerging Zoonoses at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health with a joint appointment in the department of Integrative Biology. She is an infectious disease epidemiologist and wildlife veterinarian who investigates how anthropogenic forest change and biodiversity loss alter the ecology and evolution of zoonotic viruses. Her research utilizes a transdisciplinary One Health approach to examine the mechanisms of human disease emergence at the forest edge, with a specific focus on how nonhuman primates facilitate spillover. A central component of her current work involves analyzing human and great ape immune responses within shared high-risk landscapes to identify biological mechanisms of disease resistance and resilience. She leads an international research program at UC Berkeley and serves as the Chief Veterinary and Scientific Officer for Gorilla Doctors, where she oversees the scientific strategy and veterinary care for endangered eastern gorillas in Uganda, Rwanda, and the DRC. Her background includes over 15 years of longitudinal field studies with remote communities, such as nomadic elephant loggers in Myanmar and the Batwa in Uganda. Her work has been recognized with honors including a Fulbright Fellowship and the NIH/Fogarty International Research Scientist Development Award. 

OHI affiliation:

EpiCenter for Disease Dynamics
Gorilla Doctors

Selected publications:

• Bushmeat hunting and trade in Myanmar’s central teak forests: Threats to biodiversity and human livelihoods
• Synergistic China–US Ecological Research is Essential for Global Emerging Infectious Disease Preparedness
• Detection of viruses using discarded plants from wild mountain gorillas and golden monkeys