Ben Novak collaboratively pioneers new tools for genetic rescue and de-extinction. He helps shape the genetic rescue efforts of Revive & Restore and leads its flagship project, The Great Passenger Pigeon Comeback. Novak works with collaborators and partners to restore the ecology of the Passenger Pigeon to the eastern North American forests, on the sequencing of its genome and to set the standard for de-extinction protocols and considerations in the lab and field. His Master’s in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology is with the University of California Santa Cruz, and he studied at the McMaster University Ancient DNA Centre and has worked with the Australian Animal Health Laboratory–CSIRO.