Team
New Members
We are constantly on the lookout for new members to fill a variety of roles on our team.
In particular, we regularly support the training of new members in the following roles:
- Master’s students
- PhD students
- Laboratory or field technicians
- Foreign volunteers (recruited twice annually via the Brook Lab at UChicago).
With the exception of foreign volunteers, positions will be posted here as they become available. In the meantime, if you are interested in any of these roles, please reach out to our team’s general contact at team@ekipafanihy.org.
Master’s Program
Association Ekipa Fanihy recruits and trains one new Master’s student per year from the Department of Zoology and Animal Biodiversity at the University of Antananarivo. These positions are full time jobs, negotiated for one year contracts. Master’s students are expected to design a study, collect data with our field team, and analyze the resulting data for their theses. All Master’s students will be responsible for identifying an academic adviser at the University of Antananarivo, officially enrolling in the Master’s program at the University of Antananarivo, and fulfilling all requirements of the degree at the university level. Proficiency in English and/or French are desired from Master’s students but are not required. Students recruited for these roles can expect to spend roughly 3-5 months in the field, 3-4 months in the lab, and 3-4 months writing their theses to meet the university regulations.
Current Members
Dr. RANAIVOSON Hafaliana Christian is the Director of Association Ekipa Fanihy. Contact: christian.ranaivoson@ekipafanihy.org.
Currently a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Brook lab in Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago, Christian leads Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) studies targeting viral discovery in Malagasy fruit bats. Previously, he worked as a Research Engineer in the Virology Unit at Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, where he conducted SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance in Madagascar. Christian received his Masters and PhD degrees from the Department of Zoology and Animal Biodiversity at the University of Antananarivo, Madagascar where his research focused on the distribution and transmission of intra-erythrocytic parasites of Malagasy fruit bats, specifically Babesia spp. infections of the Madagascar flying fox, Pteropus rufus. Dr. Ranaivoson has also previously studied infections of Malagasy crayfishes and nematode parasites of Malagasy reptiles.
ANDRIANIAINA Angelo is a Research Technician at Association Ekipa Fanihy. Contact: angelo.andrianiaina@ekipafanihy.org.
Angelo is a PhD student in the Department of Zoology and Animal Biodiversity at the University of Antananarivo, Madagascar. Angelo’s dissertation is focused on understanding seasonal variation in ectoparasite infestation of two Malagasy fruit bats (Eidolon dupreanum and Rousettus madagascariensis) and the impacts of this variation on the dynamics of infection for vector-borne pathogens, such as Bartonella spp. Angelo holds a Master’s degree in Animal Conservation from the University of Antananarivo and has previously worked on projects promoting lemur conservation in vanilla plantations in northern Madagascar, as well as projects documenting small mammal and herpetological biodiversity in the Moramanga District of east-central Madagascar. He has been a part of the Association Ekipa Fanihy since February 2018.
ANDRY Santino is a Research Technician at Association Ekipa Fanihy. Contact: santino.andry@ekipafanihy.org.
Santino obtained his Master’s degree in the Department of Entomology at the University of Antananarivo, Madagascar, where he worked with the Madagascar Biodiversity Center to document the effects of logging intensification on exotic and native ant assemblages in the new protected area of Ambohidray, District of Moramanga, Madagascar. Santino joined the Association Ekipa Fanihy in August 2019 and will be enrolling as a PhD student with the team in 2024.
RAKOTOARIJAONA Avotra is the Chief Administrator for Association Ekipa Fanihy. Contact: avotra.rakotoarijaona@ekipafanihy.org.
Biography coming soon!
RATSIMAMANGA Rova Indrianala is a Master’s Student with Association Ekipa Fanihy.
Rova is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in the Department of Zoology and Animal Biology at the University of Antananarivo, Madagascar. He is studying Bartonella spp. prevalence on Madagascar’s fruit bats. Rova joined the Association Ekipa Fanihy in February 2023.
Dr. BROOK Cara is the Scientific Advisor to Ekipa Fanihy. Contact: cara.brook@ekipafanihy.org.
Cara is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago. The Brook Lab investigates the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of zoonotic infections, in particular those derived from wild bat hosts. Cara is committed to conducting rigorous science while simultaneously promoting scientific development, education, and capacity building in Madagascar. She received her PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University in 2017 and her BS in Earth Systems from Stanford University in 2010.
MCFERRIN Katherine is a volunteer Field Project Manager with Association Ekipa Fanihy. Contact: katherine.mcferrin@ekipafanihy.org.
Katherine co-leads monthly field expeditions to capture and sample Madagascar endemic fruit bats. Katherine earned her B.A. in Biology from Carleton College where she focused on organismal biology and bioinformatics. She has previously conducted hantavirus surveillance in wild rodents in eastern Washington with the Molecular Ecology of Zoonotic and Animal Pathogens Lab at Washington State University. Additionally, she studied wildlife conservation and political ecology in Uganda where she conducted ecological surveys and used social science methods to better understand human-wildlife interactions.
ROLAND Martin is a volunteer Field Project Manager with Association Ekipa Fanihy. Contact: martin.roland@ekipafanihy.org.
Martin co-leads monthly field expeditions to capture and sample Madagascar endemic fruit bats. He graduated from the University of Chicago with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and a Minor in Biological Sciences, where he engaged in research focused on the morphological study of field mice for species identification. As a field TA he has led student groups on rigorous field projects including sampling for aquatic insect diversity in the mountains of Arizona, trapping rodents in the Midwest, and surveying intertidal algae abundance in Cape Cod.