Helen Wanjiru Gichohi is a Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

n ecologist who was elected President of the African Wildlife Foundation

African Wildlife Foundation

The African Wildlife Foundation , founded in 1961 as the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation, is an international conservation organization that focuses on critically important landscapes in Africa....

 (AWF) in January 2007.

Education

Helen Gichohi was born into an agricultural community in central Kenya, where animals were seen as something to be exploited rather then to be protected.
She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology from Kenyatta University

Kenyatta University

Kenyatta University, located in Nairobi, Kenya is the second largest public university in the country . The University is located in Kahawa, about from Nairobi's city centre, along the Nairobi-Thika road.- History :...

 and a Master of Science degree in Biology of Conservation from University of Nairobi

University of Nairobi

The University of Nairobi is the largest university in Kenya. Although its history as an educational institution goes back to 1956, it did not become an independent university until 1970 when the University of East Africa was split into three independent universities: Makerere University in...

.
She went on to the University of Leicester

University of Leicester

The University of Leicester is a research-led university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is a mile south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park and Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College....

, where she gained a PhD degree in Ecology.
While working for her PhD, Helen studied the effect of controlled burning on wildlife grazing areas in the Nairobi National Park

Nairobi National Park

Nairobi National Park is a national park in Kenya. Established in 1946, the national park was Kenya's first. It is located approximately 7 kilometres south of the centre of Nairobi, Kenya's capital city, with only a fence separating the park's wildlife from the metropolis. Nairobi's skyscrapers...

. Her conclusion was that, properly managed, fire could be helpful in maintaining an open savannah that provides food for wildlife.
She has said that she drifted into ecology, partly because she much preferred to work outdoors than inside in a laboratory.

Career

In 1990, while a researcher at Wildlife Conservation International

Wildlife Conservation International

Wildlife Conservation International is a field division of the Wildlife Conservation Society. It is based in Bronx, New York.The organization is mainly present in Africa and Asia as well as North and South America...

 (WCI), Helen Gichohi prepared an environmental impact statement on a commercial Export Processing Zone for the Kenyan government.
She became Director of the African Conservation Centre

African Conservation Centre

The African Conservation Centre is a non-governmental organization based in Kenya. The group was founded in 1995. In 2007 it received a US$200,000 grant from the Ford Foundation...

 (ACC), supported by Wildlife Conservation Society

Wildlife Conservation Society

The Wildlife Conservation Society based at the Bronx Zoo was founded in 1895 as the New York Zoological Society and currently manages some of wild places around the world, with over 500 field conservation projects in 60 countries, and 200 scientists on staff...

.
In 1998 she was appointed to a five-person panel to advise US President Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

 about environmental issues in Africa.
She joined the African Wildlife Foundation in February 2001 as Director of the African Heartlands Program and in February 2002 she was appointed Program Vice President.
In January 2006 the President of Kenya awarded Dr. Gichohi the Order of Great Warrior of Kenya Award in recognition of her contribution to conservation.

In January 2007 the Board of Trustees elected her as President of the AWF.
She also serves on the board of Trustees of the Kenya Wildlife Service

Kenya Wildlife Service

The Kenya Wildlife Service, otherwise known by the initialism KWS, is a Kenyan state corporation that was established in 1990 to conserve and manage Kenya’s wildlife...

.
Helen Gichohi features as an expert speaker in the award-winning 2009 movie Milking the Rhino

Milking the Rhino

Milking the Rhino is a 2009 documentary film, produced by Kartemquin Films, that examines the relationship between the indigenous African wildlife, the villagers who live amongst this wildlife and conservationists who look to keep tourism dollars coming in. Both the Maasai of Kenya and the Himba...

.
As of 2011 she was a member of the Local Advisory Committee in Kenya of the Global Give Back Circle.
She was a member of board of trustees of the Kenya Land Conservation Trust and of Beads for Education, a non-profit organization that helps mothers earn money to send their daughters to school.
She was a board member of the Equity Bank

Equity Bank

Equity Bank is a financial services provider headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. It is one of the forty-four commercial banks licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya, the national banking regulator. , Equity Bank had the largest customer base in Kenya, with over 5.7 million accounts...

, which started as a building society, later becoming a microfinance institution and then a full-fledged commercial bank.