JENIFER ALTMAN AWARDS 2005 - IGNACIO CHAPELA, Ph.D.

Dr. Chapela is the founder of The Mycological Facility, Oaxaca which investigates questions of natural resources and indigenous rights and is based in and run by indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Mexico. His publications span from the academic to media collaborations with journalists worldwide, including documentaries and news media. In addition to his work in microbial ecology and the role of microbes in ecosystem processing, Dr. Chapela is engaged in the debate over the role of biotechnology in our society, our environment and our economy. He is also interested in economic valuation of genetic resources, bioprospecting, and the interaction of the public and private spheres in the developing domain of genetic resources.

Dr. Chapela has also worked in close collaboration with indigenous communities in Costa Rica and Ecuador on questions of access, ownership and stewardship of genetic resources. He has served as advisor to Latin American countries, as well as multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Organization for Chemical Sciences in Development. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on the Environmental Impact of Commercialization of Transgenic Crops. He has worked for the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industry as a scientific researcher and with the Agricultural Research Service of the USDA. He is currently on the Board of Directors of the Pesticide Action Network, an international civic network of organizations and scientists dedicated to the promotion of alternatives to the use of pesticides worldwide. He is an Advisory Board member for The Sunshine Project, an citizen's initiative to deal with questions of biosafety and biowarfare.

Phone: 510-643-2452/ 693 1611
FAX: 510-643-5098
email: ichapela@nature.berkeley.edu

Link to Tenure Justice Website

CURRICULUM VITAE

Ignacio H. Chapela
July, 2004

Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management

334 Hilgard Hall, ESPM
University of California, Berkeley
94720-3110

Phone: 510-643-2452/ 693 1611
FAX: 510-643-5098
email: ichapela@nature.berkeley.edu

Academic Degrees

PhD, University of Wales, Cardiff, U.K. Fungal Ecology, 1987.
Licenciado (BSc): Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). Biology, 1984.

Research and Professional Experience

1996-date Assistant Professor (Microbial Ecology). U C Berkeley.
1997-date Member, Board of Directors, Pesticide Action Network.
2000-date Scientific Advisory Board, The Sunshine Project (biosafety and biowarfare).
2003-2004 Member, Board of Directors, Council for Responsible Genetics, Boston.
2000-2001 Subcommittee on the Environmental Impacts of Transgenic Crops. National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences (US).
1994-2002 Founder and Scientific Director, Mycological Facility: Oaxaca.
1998-99 Chair of the Faculty, Executive Committee, CNR, UC Berkeley.
1997-98 Vice-Chair, Executive Committee, CNR, UC Berkeley.
1995-98 Member, Biodiversity Technology Group, Washington, DC.
1995-2000 Advisory Board Member, International Organization for Chemical Sciences in Development (IOCD), Biotic Exploration Fund.
1993-95 Collaborator. Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory, USDA/Smithsonian Institution.
1991-date Advisor on genetic resources, biodiversity and conservation to various Latin American countries (governmental and NGO levels) and multilateral institutions (World Bank, Panamerican Health Organization, World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), World Resources Institute; UN Environment and Development Program; UN Conference on Trade and Development; Rockefeller Foundation).
1992-93 Visiting Scientist, Center for the Environment, Cornell University.
1990-1992 Researcher (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter), Sandoz Agro, Ltd and Sandoz Pharma, Ltd. Basel.
1989-1990 Postdoctoral Researcher, Biotechnology & Crop Protection Depts, Sandoz Ltd., Basel.
1988-1989 Visiting Fellow, Department of Plant Pathology, Cornell University
1987 Assistant Professor, Metropolitan University (UAM-X), Mexico.

Post-Doctoral Scholars and Distinguished Students

Post-doctoral associates at Berkeley: Laurie Osher (stable isotope ecology), Paolo Gonthier (fungal population genetics), Charles Weiss (policy of bioprospecting), Natan Zeidenweber (industrial and informatic approaches to conservation), Camilo Florez (microbial diversity in the tropics), Matteo Garbelotto (coevolution, speciation, genomics and population biology of basidiomycetes).
Distinguished undergraduate students: Daniel Santillano (Fulbright and MacNair Scholar); Adam Bahrami (Student Speaker, College of Natural Resources, 1999, now at Harvard Grad School); Michelle Pannor (Regent of the University of California, 1999-2000); Kwa Liu (McNair Scholar, now at Harvard Medical School).

Sources of Research Funding
(by year of award)

2001
Altman/Kapor/Starfire Foundations
UC Berkeley Latin American Studies Program
2000
National Air and Space Agency (NASA)
California Department of Forestry
US Department of Agriculture (USDA)
UC Berkeley Human Rights Center
1999
Hellman Family Faculty Fund
USDA
University of California Biotech Program
1998
University of California Biotech Program
North American Fund for Environmental Conservation
Mexican Foundation for Environmental Conservation
1997
University of California MEXUS program
USDA
University of California Biotech Program
North American Fund for Environmental Conservation
1996
Novartis, Biolead Project
USDA
USAID

Speaker (selected invited conferences)

Parlamentarian conference, German Bundestag (Berlin)
Mexican Congress (Mexico City)
Canadian Association of University Teachers (Univ. of British Columbia).
Environmental Grantmakers Association.
American Public Health Association – 131st Annual Meeting, San Francisco.
California Association of Criminologists.
Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences (Kiruna, Sweden).
Latin American Mycological Congress (Caracas, Venezuela. Keynote speaker).
International Botanical Congress (San Louis, Mo. Symposium organizer).
University of Georgia (Anthropology and Center for Latin American Studies).
Duke University (Botany).
Tropical Ecology Symposium: Global Change, Biodiversity and Restoration (Caracas, Venezuela. Keynote speaker).
Claremont Colleges (Claremont, CA).
San Diego Zoological Society (La Jolla, CA)
Swedish University of Agricultural Science (Uppsala, Sweden)
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development: Partners for Development (Lyon, France).
Rockefeller Foundation (New York, NY).
UC Davis.
UC Riverside.

Participation in non-university-based research initiatives

Exploratory Initiative on Biotechnology (San Francisco).
Center for Genetics in Society (Oakland, CA).
Center for Ethics and Toxics. A Critique of Biotechnology.
World Health Organization: guidelines for application of biotechnology.
National Academy of Sciences (US), National Research Council. Environmental Impacts of Transgenic Crops.

Involvement in Policy

Biotechnology Policy:
- National Institutes of Health. Review Panel on International Collaborative Biodiversity Projects (ICBG; 2002).
- National Academy of Science, National Research Council. Committee on environmental impacts of GMO crops (2000-2001).
- Advisory role for public institutions, including the California Legislature (Committees on Natural Resources, Agriculture and Water and Higher Education), US Federal Food and Drug Administration, Rockefeller Foundation.
- Participant, Exploratory Initiative on Biotechnology.
- Center for Ethics and Toxics review of Biotechnology.
- Board Member, Pesticide Action Network.
- New Zealand Royal Enquiry Board on Biotechnology (invited as witness).

Conservation Policy:
International Collaborative Biodiversity Groups, Fogarty Center for International Studies, National Institutes of Health (US). Advisory role for the World Bank (Mesoamerican Initiative) and the International Finance Corporation (Biodiversity Initiative). Mediaton and representation role over controversial property rights questions on industry-indigenous peoples’ relationships. Advisor to Biotic Exploration Fund (International Organization for Chemistry in Development, IOCD), Biodiversity Technology Group, and various otheri nitiatives on Bioprospecting and conservation-through-sustainable-use strategies.

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