About Alonso
A. Alonso Aguirre is Dean of the Warner College of Natural Resources at Colorado State University. He is a two-time alumnus of CSU and Warner College, as well as winner of the College’s Distinguished Alumni Award. He is the first Latin-American to be Dean of Warner College. Dr. Aguirre’s academic mission is to provide the next generation of environmental science, sustainability, and policy leaders with unique educational and research opportunities that are transformational and transdisciplinary in nature within the context of globalization and international markets. Previously, he was a Professor and Chair of the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at George Mason University, Fairfax Virginia. There, he headed an academic and research program using One Health/Planetary Health to understand wildlife diseases and their links to human health; he also was chair of the University’s Institutional Animal Use and Care Committee. For the past 30 years his work has focused on the conservation of endangered species and ecosystems under the tenet “health connects all species in the planet,” developing practical, sustainable, and effective solutions understanding local socio-economic factors and a solid grasp of complex national and regional health and environmental policies. His collaborations highlight transdisciplinarity, integrative research, socio-ecological systems and resilience, while building local capacity in over 25 countries. Dr. Aguirre cofounded the emerging discipline of Conservation Medicine, the Journal of EcoHealth and the International Association of Ecology and Health. He has published over 160 peer-reviewed papers and 5 books. Dr. Aguirre was appointed to the Board on Life Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences and served in the expert panel of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. He has advised governments of several countries of the Americas, Southeast Asia, and Western Europe and briefed the Mexican and United States Congress on many health and ecological issues linked to anthropogenic change. He has received numerous awards including the Conservation Merit Bicentennial Award from Mexico and the Harry Jalanka Memorial Medal from Finland.