Dr. Christopher Parkinson, Ph.D., grew up in Ohio where he started catching lizards and snakes as a child. He attended Ohio University for his undergraduate education and where Dr. Scott Moody nurtured and guided his passion for snakes. He then went on to earn his Ph.D. from the University of Louisville and carried out postdoctoral work at Indiana University and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Christopher is currently a Professor in the Departments of Biological Sciences and Forestry and Environmental Conservation at Clemson University where he and his team utilize genomic approaches to investigate the evolution, conservation, and systematics of vertebrates. Dr. Parkinson is interested in understanding the evolutionary processes of speciation and utilizes New World venomous snakes as a model system.  Over the last 25 years, Christopher has worked extensively with the biogeography, systematics and taxonomy of pitvipers, and has recently started using whole genome sequencing and transcriptomics to investigate the evolution of venom and venom variation.  Dr. Parkinson has carried out fieldwork in over 20 countries and has built numerous, multidimensional collaborations with researchers across the globe and welcomes many more.