Germán Forero Medina graduated in biology from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, where he studied the population ecology and natural history of the white-throated mud turtle in a Caribbean Island in Colombia. In 2007 he received his MS degree from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, studying the perceptual and dispersal abilities of small marsupials from the Atlantic forest and implications for landscape functional connectivity. In 2012 he received his PhD in conservation ecology from Duke University, in North Carolina, USA, as a Fulbright Scholar. His doctoral dissertation addressed the issue of elevational range shifts in tropical mountains as a result from climate disruption. His paper on this subject received the Dean’s Award for Outstanding PhD manuscript, by Duke University. His main research interests and expertise are tropical ecology, conservation biology, natural history of tropical vertebrates (reptiles, amphibians, and mammals), landscape ecology, climate change effects on tropical ecosystems, and impact evaluation on conservation programs. He has extensive field work experience in South America, having worked in Colombia, Brazil and Peru. He is a corresponding member of Colombia´s National Academy of Science.