I applied for the job of a "gorilla doctor” in Africa, working for the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, because I wanted to care for animals still living in their natural habitat.  The work requires a fair amount of time in the forest.  I coordinate a team of seven field veterinarians and we spend many hours trekking up and down tree-covered volcanoes to monitor the health of free-living mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda, and (when it’s safe) Congo. We spend a lot of time observing, and that’s the goal—to be ready to intervene if need be, but only when and if we’re certain that veterinary intervention will make a difference.  The decision-making and the setting, in addition to the difficulty of treating animals in the field with limited equipment (and sometimes pouring down rain), makes this job my most challenging ever.