Dr. Laurie Marker is Founder and Executive Director of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), which she established in Namibia in 1990. Her research focuses on cheetah biology, ecology, genetics and conservation, particularly the challenge of helping predators and livestock farmers coexist. She began working with cheetahs at Wildlife Safari in Oregon, where she helped develop captive breeding programs and later conducted research showing that captive-born cheetahs could learn to hunt after release. Her early fieldwork brought her to Namibia, where she discovered that livestock farmers were trapping and killing hundreds of wild cheetahs.

That experience shaped Dr. Marker’s approach to conservation. She recognized that protecting cheetahs required not only studying the species but also addressing the economic realities facing people who share the landscape with them. In the 1980s, she collaborated with researchers from the Smithsonian Institution and National Cancer Institute on studies that identified the cheetah’s unusually low genetic diversity and associated reproductive and health challenges. After founding CCF, she expanded this science-based approach to include long-term population monitoring, habitat research and strategies for reducing human-wildlife conflict.

Under Dr. Marker’s leadership, CCF has developed livestock management, education and habitat restoration programs that help farmers protect their livelihoods without killing predators. Its work now extends from cheetah research and veterinary care in Namibia to efforts combating the illegal cheetah trade in Somaliland. Her career has helped establish a conservation model that links field science with practical solutions for communities living alongside one of Africa’s most threatened big cats.