Kate Jackson (born 14 February 1972) is a Canadian herpetologist who specializes in the study of venomous snakes in Central Africa.
In her dissertation she concluded that a venom-delivery system evolved during the Miocene era, approximately 25 million years ago.
She worked in Northern Congo, but she had to cut her research trip short when a scrape on her leg became infected and she had to be evacuated for treatment in Cameroon.
The trip was difficult, due to flooding in the area, but she collected 130 species, including a six-foot long water cobra that she carried in her backpack because they did not have a bag large enough for it.
Around the same time took a sabbatical to diagnosis and recover from transverse myelitis, a neurological condition caused by a virus in the spine, mostly likely picked up on one of her African expeditions.