Laurie Marker

Laurie has worked with cheetahs since 1974 and set up the Cheetah Conservation Fund in 1990 to develop a permanent Conservation Research Center for the wild cheetah.Dr. Marker helped develop the U.S. and international captive... [ view full abstract ]

Laurie has worked with cheetahs since 1974 and set up the Cheetah Conservation Fund in 1990 to develop a permanent Conservation Research Center for the wild cheetah.

Dr. Marker helped develop the U.S. and international captive program, establishing the most successful captive cheetah breeding program in North America during her 16 years (1974-1988) at Oregon’s Wildlife Safari. In the early 1980’s, with collaborators at the National Zoo and National Cancer Institute, Dr. Marker helped identify the cheetah’s lack of genetic variation. In 1988, she became the Executive Director of the Center for New Opportunities in Animal Health Sciences, based at Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoo, and continues to serve as a NOAHS Research Fellow. In 1996, she was made a vice-chair of the World Conservation Union’s (IUCN) Species Survival Commission’s (SSC) Cat Specialist Group and now serves as a member of the core management group. Among numerous awards, Dr. Marker has been recognized as one of Time Magazine’s Heroes for the Planet in 2000 and was awarded the 2010 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement.

In Namibia, her home base, she received the Windhoek Rotary Club’s Paul Harris Fellowship in 2001, and in 2002 received a special award from the Sanveld Conservancy, signifying Namibia’s farming community’s public acknowledgment of Dr. Marker and CCF’s contributions. In 2002, Laurie received her doctorate from Oxford University, England.