Biologist’s genuine love of research to benefit others
East Carolina University shines when it comes to world-class, award-winning faculty and research, as demonstrated by Dr. Fidisoa “Fidy” Rasambainarivo, a Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences assistant professor in the Department of Biology.
Rasambainarivo, who is originally from Madagascar and began working at ECU in 2023, is one of only five recipients of the prestigious international Maxwell-Hanrahan Foundation Award in Field Biology. The honor, which comes with a monetary prize of $100,000, was awarded to Rasambainarivo for his research into infectious diseases and pathogen transmission between animals and humans. His goal is to inform policies and promote both public health and biodiversity conservation.
Doctoral student Kayla Evans works on samples brought to ECU from Madagascar by a colleague of Rasambainarivo’s, with whom she is co-authoring a paper on lemur malaria. (Photo by Steven Mantilla)
“It was an award that I did not apply for, so I was extremely surprised and proud to receive it,” Rasambainarivo said. “I am very humbled to be one of the five chosen for the award.”
In an act of generosity and because of his passion for research, Rasambainarivo is donating the monetary prize from his Maxwell-Hanrahan award to ECU and a lab he founded in Madagascar. The $50,000 gift creates a research fund supporting the Department of Biology and places Rasambainarivo in the top 20 of faculty and staff donors at ECU.
“I hope that this will also bring more exposure to the wonderful work that is done at ECU by other professors and students,” he said.
Rasambainarivo’s Research
The breadth of research at the university and within biology is one of the aspects that influenced Rasambainarivo’s decision to come work for ECU. He said he was impressed with both the fundamental and applied research in fields related to his and the level of student interest. He said he wanted to contribute to the wealth of knowledge but also to learn from his colleagues and students.
Rasambainarivo’s research focuses on interactions between humans, domestic animals and wildlife in their natural environment, and how diseases are spread within these interfaces. He does most of his work in Madagascar, focusing on diseases in lemurs, but he also researches diseases in wild carnivores that often interact with domestic animals.
Through the use of trail and trap cameras, he has been able to take blood, hair and fecal samples from wild and domestic animals — cats and dogs — and link bacteria and pathogen transmissions between the two, which then may spread to humans. What he found most interesting was the numerous interactions between domestic dogs and cats in protected wildlife areas, often caught on camera.
“This is one of the first findings that opened the eyes of authorities in the area to the risk of pathogen transmission,” he said.
Diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema) is a critically endangered species of lemur that Dr. Rasambainarivo studies in Madagascar. (Contributed photo)
For example, Rasambainarivo said researchers have discovered toxoplasmosis — a parasite that can be transmitted to humans and is spread by cats — in the wildlife of Madagascar, proving that domestic animals have spread the parasite, potentially endangering wildlife. According to the Centers for Disease Control, toxoplasmosis is an infection caused by a single-celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. More than 40 million people are infected with the parasite in the United States. Pregnant women and those who are immunocompromised are at higher risk of developing severe toxoplasmosis.
Rasambainarivo conducts similar research in eastern North Carolina. He focuses mainly on zoonotic diseases — diseases that can be spread from animals to humans — that may impact human health, but also the conservation of the biodiversity of different species. He is working to identify those types of diseases, how they spread and what, if anything, can be done about that.
“I am extremely excited about the possibility and potential that this award will provide,” he said. “With this award, I hope to continue to increase our knowledge of the potential spread of disease, given the changes in our environment.”
Throughout the past two or three decades, Rasambainarivo said an increasing number of diseases have been documented that spread between humans and animals — the most recent being COVID-19 and Mpox. He said these are scary to individuals, but also at the global level.
“My goal is to contribute to the knowledge of diseases; trying to find what they are and how they spread, and ideally, influence future policy and practices to reduce the risk.”
The second half of Rasambainarivo’s award money will be donated to a lab in Madagascar. Its mission is to advance conservation science. (Contributed photo)
Donating Award Funds
At ECU, Rasambainarivo has created the One Health Research Fund. The fund supports his research, the work of biology students and faculty, and research partners outside of ECU, as well as equipment and research supplies.
“Fidy could have used the money from this for personal gain — like buy a car or pay off a house — but he did not do that,” said Dr. David Chalcraft, professor and chair of the Department of Biology. “Instead, he is directing half of it to come to ECU to help support his research, and the research that his students do, and the other half to support an organization in Madagascar where he conducts his research on infectious disease and lemurs.”
Growing up in Madagascar, Rasambainarivo experienced nature at a young age. He said he loved wildlife and always wanted to be a veterinarian. While attending veterinarian school, he had a mentor who showed him the link between veterinary medicine and wildlife research and how disease may emerge. Now, he wants to share his love of wildlife research with the next generation of scientists.
“I want to share what inspired me to come to this field of biological research,” he said.
Student Research
With the donation of the award money, Rasambainarivo will provide funds for student travel and research from ECU to Madagascar — potentially as soon as summer 2026 — for four to eight weeks on a cultural exchange. He wants students to experience and perform biological research in a field setting where diseases may emerge.
Diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema) is a critically endangered species of lemur that Dr. Rasambainarivo studies in Madagascar. (Contributed photo)
“I hope students will see how we are connected to the environment. How our actions, both at the individual level and at the societal level, may impact the environment and our own health,” he said.
“Madagascar is a very different setting from North Carolina. It is a country that is rich in biodiversity, but it also has a lot of economic challenges,” he said. “I think it is important for students who are potentially going into public health, medicine or biological research to experience the breadth of possibilities in which they may work.”
Currently, Rasambainarivo mentors one doctoral student, three master’s degree students and four undergraduate student researchers who work in his lab. Kayla Evans, his mentee who is majoring in the interdisciplinary doctoral program in biology, biomedicine and chemistry, is working on samples brought to ECU from Madagascar by a colleague of Rasambainarivo’s, with whom she is co-authoring a paper on lemur malaria. Their paper is about lemur plasmodium infections. Plasmodium is a parasite that causes malaria in humans.
“Working with Dr. Fidy has been an immersive experience that has taught me a lot about project planning, leadership, lab skills and the importance of being able to communicate the story we are trying to tell through our research,” Evans said.
Evans said the proficiencies she is learning from Rasambainarivo will help in her future research endeavors and her goal of continuing to study diseases, especially those that impact both human and animal health.
“He has taught me important skills in disease ecology, epidemiology and public/wildlife health,” she said. “In the lab, he has taught me new techniques ranging from basic laboratory etiquette — how to properly clean my workstation — to more complex skills, like creating lab protocols that can be followed during different lab techniques.”
“What has surprised me most is the collaborative atmosphere in Dr. Fidy’s lab,” Evans said. “He has shown me, and other students, that we have the freedom to ask the questions we want answers to. He has created a space where we can all come together to learn, communicate and brainstorm. He has been an excellent leader, and I look forward to my next few years of working with him.”
Rasambainarivo also wants the research skills and knowledge applied at ECU to be shared and implemented in Madagascar.
“My intention with this gift and award is to take students there, but also bring students and scientists from Madagascar to North Carolina to increase the exchange and experiences of both of the worlds I live in and now call home.”
Mahaliana
The second half of Rasambainarivo’s award money will be donated to Mahaliana, a molecular lab in Antananarivo, Madagascar, which he co-founded in 2018. Mahaliana’s mission is to advance conservation science. The lab studies how recent anthropogenic changes, such as habitat degradation and the intensification of human mobility and animal trade, are altering the landscape of infectious diseases and facilitating the spread of pathogens across geographical and ecological boundaries in Madagascar.
Rasambainarivo wants to build the capacity of students and scientists from Madagascar so that they can continue to perform research in their country. He said he wants the award to support the continued potential of the center and the collaboration between its lab and ECU.
He wants to empower the next generation of conservation leaders while protecting the interests of both wildlife and human communities.
“I believe the research I am doing is worthwhile and provides opportunities for students in Madagascar and at ECU,” he said. “It is very close to my heart — building capacity both in Madagascar and through the exchange of experiences of researchers and ECU students.”
Rasambainarivo’s upcoming projects will integrate advanced field monitoring, community engagement and policy collaboration to strengthen conservation strategies. To learn more about Rasambainarivo and his research, visit his ECU biology faculty web page.
Launched in 2020, the Maxwell/Hanrahan Awards in Field Biology recognize and encourage researchers whose work has been under-appreciated, is at an early career or critical stage and demonstrates curiosity in field-based research. The awards support individual scientists, elevate their diverse perspectives and enable them to commit time to the observation and experimentation that help us better understand the world around us.