Dr. Mark Siddall was a fellow in the Michigan Society of Fellows from 1996 - 1999. Today, he is a curator of zoology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and a principal investigator in the Institute for Comparative Genomics. His research focuses on the evolution of parasite diversity, from microbes and malaria to bed bugs, as well as leeches and their hemotoxic venoms. With over one hundred and fifty publications and thirty years of fieldwork that spans all continents, Siddall has been central to leveraging the genomic technologies for the study of biodiversity. A defender of charismatic microfauna, Siddall also is engaged with driving human parasites to extinction while capturing knowledge about their life cycles, ecology, and genomics. In addition to being co-curator of the iconic Hall of Ocean Life, Siddall’s award-winning exhibitions include “Life at the Limits,” “Countdown to Zero,” “Picturing Science,” and “Power of Poison,” which led to his popular book Poison: Sinister Species with Deadly Consequences.

This event is presented in celebration of the Michigan Society of Fellows 46th anniversary.