Nashville, TN –– Vanderbilt University’s Evolutionary Studies Initiative is thrilled to announce that evolutionary biologist Jaap de Roode will be delivering the annual Biodiversity Day Lecture. de Roode is widely recognized for his groundbreaking research on the behavioral ecology of parasite-infected monarch butterflies, which has transformed our understanding of the disease ecology and animal medications. The lecture, titled “Microbes and Medicine: Evolution of Parasite Virulence and Medication in Monarch Butterflies,” will take place at 3:00pm on 4 November 2026 in Stevenson Center 4-327.
Evolutionary Studies will also host Biodiversity Day at the Adventure Science Center from 4:00pm – 6:00pm on 5 November 2026. The first hour will feature booths with various family-friendly biodiversity-inspired activities and the second hour will feature a book talk from de Roode. Register for the event here. His book, “Doctors by Nature: How Ants, Apes & Other Animals Heal Themselves” covers not just his research, but indeed many exciting aspects of the natural ways in which animals use the world around them as medication. Examples include monkeys that seek out rough leaves and swallow them whole to help clear parasites while receiving no other benefit from these leaves and avoiding them when healthy. Find a book review by graduate student Rayshaun Pettit in our Spring 2026 edition of Evolutionary Studies – the Magazine.
de Roode received his M.Sc. in population biology from Wageningen University in the Netherlands and his Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. de Roode is the Samuel C. Dobbs Professor of Biology at Emory University. He is a leading evolutionary biologist on the cutting edge of disease ecology working with both monarch butterflies and honey bees. In 2011, he was named among the “Brilliant 10” top scientists under 40 by the editors of Popular Science magazine. He is also the director of the Infectious Disease Across Scales Training Program. His book recently won the American Botanical Council’s James A Duke Botanical Literature Award.
The Biodiversity Day Lecture Series aims to honor and recognize scientists that have dedicated their careers to studying the diversity of life on Earth and the mechanisms that generate or maintain it. The Vanderbilt Evolutionary Studies Initiative is a transdisciplinary center of excellence on evolutionary studies that innovates on research, pedagogy, and outreach by engaging scholars, students, our community, and the world. For more information about the Evolutionary Studies Initiative and the Biodiversity Day Lecture featuring Jaap de Roode, please visit www.vanderbilt.edu/evolution or contact evolutionarystudies@vanderbilt.edu.
