Dr. Frank Burbrink has worked on snake evolution and ecology for more than 25 years and is currently the Curator of Reptiles and Amphibians at the American Museum of Natural History. He is the author of more than 70 papers involving reptile and amphibian biology and has conducted numerous research expeditions to collect snakes in Brazil, Madagascar, Japan, the US, Panama and elsewhere. His main focus is to examine the evolutionary history and biogeography of snakes across the world. Using genomic-scale data integrated with ecology and morphology, his research helps understand how species are generated, what processes produce patterns of species richness, and how local communities are formed. Within this research framework, he is currently investigating population genetics, phylogeography and systematics of snakes to better understand how traits have influenced both species diversification and the regional assemblage of taxa across space and time. Additionally, he conducts research on divergence dating techniques using integrated molecular phylogenies and fossil data, theoretical phylogenetics, and species tree estimation using genomic data.