Alecia A. Lilly, Ph.D. is Director of Ecosystem Health Program, Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, in Kigali, Rwanda. Dr. Lilly is currently directing a program for DFGFI that focuses on assessing and identifying health problems in endangered African great apes and the human populations that live in proximity to them. The program is active in Rwanda, Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and through education and treatment programs, it attempts to reduce the possibilities for human-ape disease transmission. She has been working on similar projects in Africa since 1998.

Between 1990 and 1998, Dr. Lilly participated in various conservation projects in Morocco, Algeria, Central and East Africa, while her principle work was with laboratory primates in the United States. During her work with captive primates, she established a center for laboratory primates who were emotionally and physically challenged as a result of the biomedical trade. Many of these individuals were diagnosed with human sydromes such as: autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, posttraumatic stress syndrome, and explosive bouts of hyperaggressivity, and other physical disorders. Special behavioral and pharmocological treatments were developed for these individuals to improve their quality of life, and in some cases rehabilitate them for social life.

Dr. Lilly's doctoral dissertation examined stress in captive primates, and she continues to apply these findings to her current studies on endangered apes when they are exposed to atypical stressors such as habitat degradation and loss, human encroachment, and the bushmeat trade. She also continues to collaborate on projects in the US dealing with emotional disturbance in captive primates.