Madhu Rao is currently Regional Technical Advisor for the Wildlife Conservation Society Asia Program (WCS) and Coordinator for Asia for the Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners (NCEP). She holds a Ph.D in Conservation Biology from Duke University. She has had experience training and working with national counterparts to design, monitor and adaptively manage field conservation projects in the Asia region.

Her interests include the design and implementation of conservation projects related to protected area planning, threat monitoring and hunting for wildlife trade. She works with the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History, New York to develop training materials and curricula in Conservation Science and Practice. The NCEP project is a global initiative that seeks to 1) connect those involved in doing biodiversity conservation with those teaching it, 2) create and make widely available a variety of resources to support biodiversity conservation education, 3) develop networks and resource centers to increase mentoring and training opportunities in biodiversity conservation worldwide.