AVIAN GENETIC RESCUE WORKSHOP

Xi Chen

Postdoctoral Scholar, Qi-long Ying Lab, University of Southern California

Dr. Chen graduated from Shanghai Jiaotong University in 2010 and then completed a Master’s degree in Biochemistry in 2012 at George Washington University. He joined Dr. Qi-long Ying’s lab at the University of Southern California as a Ph.D. student. Currently, he works as a postdoctoral scholar in the Ying lab. His research focus is mainly on the derivation and application of avian embryonic stem cells.

Gary Fitt

Honorary Fellow, CSIRO Health and Biosecurity 

After retiring as Deputy and Science Director from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in 2019, Dr. Fitt became an Honorary Fellow for CSIRO Health and Biosecurity.  Gary has been keeping birds, essentially finches, for 55 years and has been involved with several avicultural societies since the 1970’s. He has been President of the Queensland Finch Society for 10 of the last 12 years and is currently Vice President. He was inaugural President of the National Finch and Softbill Association when it formed in 2006 (and is currently Vice President). In this role he has liaised extensively with government agencies in Queensland, NSW and Victoria around issues of bird welfare, regulatory oversight of native bird keeping and development of codes of practice.

Jae Yong Han

Professor / Director, Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology, Seoul National University

Needs to be rewritten

Erich D. Jarvis

Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Professor, The Rockefeller University

Dr. Erich Jarvis, an alumnus of The Rockefeller University, returned to campus in 2016 as a tenured professor heading the new Laboratory of Neurogenetics of Language.  Dr. Jarvis investigates vocal learning in songbirds and other animals as a model for understanding spoken language in humans. He integrates computational, behavioral, physiological, and molecular techniques to explore the neural genetics of vocal learning and the evolution of this complex behavior.  His research has led him to theorize that the brain pathways for vocal learning in both birds and humans likely evolved from a motor circuit common to all vertebrates.  One of the Jarvis lab’s current interests is understanding mechanisms that guide the formation of neural circuits during learning.

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Hiroshi Kagami

Professor, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture Shinshu University, Japan

NEEDS TO BE REWRITTEN

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Hanna Mounce

Research Management Project Coordinator, Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project

Dr. Hanna Mounce is currently Research Management Project Coordinator, Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project, Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit, University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa. Dr. Mounce has spent more than 15 years working on the conservation of Hawaiian forest birds and more than a decade of experience designing, coordinating, and conducting large research and monitoring projects with diverse stakeholders. Mounce has a background in avian research, monitoring, and population genetics and a passion for island ecosystems. While coordinating the recovery actions for the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project, Dr. Mounce also oversees an active volunteer program, and develops public outreach for the Hawai‘i community and beyond.

P. Olof Olsson

Research and Project Management, UAE Biotech Research Center, Genetic Memory Inc.

Dr. Olsson was born in rural California, where he was raised amongst nature on the family’s multi-generational organic farm. The Olson family originated in Dalarna Sweden and have continued a long tradition of agriculture, innovation, invention and entrepreneurship throughout the years. Having a rich background in the family farm and the contact with wildlife in and around it, Olof grew with his passion for the natural world. Being blessed with a supportive family he pursued degrees in biology a masters in Applied Biotechnology and completed his PhD from the University of Lund. Olof’s doctoral work was predominately related to cancer and the extracellular environment, working in the departments of Laboratory Medicine and Experimental Medical Science.

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Jason A. Delborne

Professor of Science, Policy, and Society, North Carolina State University

Jason A. Delborne is Professor of Science, Policy, and Society and University Faculty Scholar at North Carolina State University. With appointments in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources and the Genetic Engineering and Society Center, Delborne teaches and conducts research at the intersection of environmental policy, biotechnology, and public engagement. He draws upon the highly interdisciplinary field of science and technology studies (STS) to engage qualitative research methodologies to explore how policymakers, stakeholders, and members of the public interface with emerging biotechnologies designed for environmental benefit.

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Research program

Owain Edwards

Group Leader, Environmental & Synthetic Genomics, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

Dr Owain Edwards obtained a BSc in Zoology from the University of Guelph in 1986. He was awarded his MSc in Entomology from the University of Missouri‐Columbia, USA, in 1989 and his PhD in Entomology from the University of California, Berkeley, USA, in 1994. Prior to joining CSIRO in 1998, Dr Edwards undertook postdoctoral studies at the University of Florida and the US Department of Agriculture to study ecological and genetic factors controlling the establishment of natural enemies in classical biological control programs. As a Project Leader in CSIRO based in Perth, Western Australia, his research has focused primarily on the molecular basis of aphid‐host plant interactions, which now includes board membership in the International Aphid Genomics Consortium (IAGC) and strong collaborations with the Institute of Zoology (CAS Beijing), Kansas State University (USA),

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Joshua P. Fisher

Invasive Species Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office

Joshua Fisher is an Invasive Species Biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Over the last 14 years at this field office, he has focused his attention on the prevention of the establishment of introduced invasive species that negatively affect or have the potential to affect the USFWS trust resources and their habitats within the Pacific Ecoregion.  In addition to this biosecurity/prevention focus, Joshua is engaged in efforts to advance new tools and solutions to address a myriad of conservation issues for which there are few, if any, management tools to employ at a landscape scale.

Martin Gaywood

Species Projects Manager, Scottish Natural Heritage

Following postdoctoral work at CSIRO Australia, Martin moved to Scottish Natural Heritage (Scotland’s nature agency) where he has been coordinating research, survey and conservation action for a range of plant, invertebrate and vertebrate species for over 25 years. Between 2007-12 he managed the ’Species Action Framework’ programme of targeted management for 32 priority species. Currently Species Projects Manager, he now coordinates the National Species Reintroduction Forum, is the SNH specialist for conservation translocation work and managed the production of the Scottish Code for Conservation Translocations, and has played a leading role in beaver reintroduction since 2000. Since 2016 he has been SNH lead for two major wildcat conservation partnership projects. He is a member of the IUCN Conservation Translocation Specialist Group and is currently editing a book on conservation translocations for Cambridge University Press.  He lives in wildcat country in the Scottish Highlands.

Doria Gordon

Lead Senior Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund

Dr. Doria Gordon is currently the interim Vice President for Working Lands and a Lead Senior Scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Dr. Gordon is also a Courtesy Professor of Biology at the University of Florida and a Research Associate at Archbold Biological Station. Prior to EDF, she spent 25 years working in science, conservation, and management for The Nature Conservancy. Her research has spanned predicting invasiveness in plant species using risk assessment tools, assessing habitat quality across the U.S., modeling the effects of sea level rise on coastal habitats, and identifying the effects of fire management and restoration on rare species and forested ecosystems. She has been extending her risk assessment approach to genetically engineered organisms and was on the committee that developed the NASEM (2019) publication on Forest Health and Biotechnology.

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Gregg Howald

Director of Global and External Affairs, Island Conservation

Gregg is an expert in the field of island restoration, with 25 years of experience, including the eradication of invasive species from more than 75 islands in 8 countries. Gregg currently serves as Island Conservation’s Director of Global and External Affairs, and his experience and expertise are utilized for many of IC’s projects worldwide. With a diverse technical background, grounded in ecotoxicology, he has evolved into conservation diplomacy and is a key member of highly controversial projects and public engagement processes where he supports communication of risks and benefits of projects to inform values‐based decisions including regulatory compliance processes, the media, rightsholders, and the public. He has developed a network of partners globally and throughout North America, from federal government agencies, private industry, NGOs, academic institutions, and local communities. Gregg is currently working in networks of multilateral/transboundary public-private partnerships to bring industry, government, scientists, and NGOs together under national and international policy frameworks that are focused on island restoration programs, with a goal to increase the scale, scope, and pace of the eradication of invasive species from islands.

Margaret Hunter

Research Geneticist, U.S. Geological Survey, Wetland & Aquatic Research Center

Dr. Margaret Hunter is a research geneticist at the U.S. Geological Survey and adjunct faculty member at the University of Florida. Dr. Hunter’s laboratory develops genetic and genomic tools to improve the conservation and management efforts of imperiled and invasive species. She uses environmental DNA (eDNA) to characterize species’ range-boundaries and movement pathways and is exploring genetic tools to assist with the control of invasive species.

Peter Kareiva

Director, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, UCLA

Peter Kareiva is the director of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA, Pritzker Distinguished Professor in Environment & Sustainability and Chair, Doctorate of Environmental Science and Engineering program. Before coming to UCLA, Kareiva was the Chief Scientist and Vice President of The Nature Conservancy, where he was responsible for maintaining the quality of over 600 staff engaged in conservation science in 36 countries around the world.

Kareiva studied political science and zoology at Duke University for his bachelor’s degree and ecology and applied mathematics at Cornell University for his Ph.D. He is the author of more than 150 scientific publications and author or editor of eight books, including a textbook on conservation science.  His most recent book (2017), Effective Conservation Science: Data not Dogma challenges conservationists to question received wisdom, and look to their data for surprises and new ideas that could be key to sustaining biodiversity.

Natalie Kofler

Founder, Editing Nature

Dr. Natalie Kofler is the founding director of Editing Nature – a global initiative to steer responsible development and deployment of environmental genetic technologies. She is a leading voice in CRISPR and synthetic biology ethics and governance, authoring numerous publications on the topic, serving on expert panels, and contributing to UN mandated documents. Her work has been highlighted by The New York Times, Science, Nature, NPR, CBC radio, Pacific Standard Magazine, and National Geographic. She lectures on environmental ethics at the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Harvard Medical School. She served as the resident scholar in sustainability at the University of Illinois, a visiting scholar at the Hastings Center for Bioethics, and is an affiliate scholar at the Yale Program in Biomedical Ethics. She received her Ph.D. in cellular, molecular, and medical biosciences and MS in human nutrition and metabolic studies from Columbia University and her BS in human anatomy and cell biology from McGill University. She is an advisor for the Scientific Citizenship Initiative at Harvard Medical School.

Jack Long

Chair, The Nature Conservancy, Texas Chapter 

Jack Long is an entrepreneur who has co-founded three businesses (two software and one transportation), two of which were recognized as Inc. 500 fastest-growing companies. Jack formerly taught entrepreneurship at the University of Texas at Austin MBA program and at the Acton School of Business. He was a trustee for St. Stephen’s Episcopal School, Austin, and currently serves as a trustee and Vice-Chair at Pomona College, Chair of the Texas chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and is a member of the Vanderbilt University Owen Management School Board of Visitors. Jack has undergraduate (University of Richmond, 1981) and graduate degrees (Vanderbilt University, 1983) in business and an undergraduate degree in Astronomy (University of Texas at Austin, 2018). Jack is an Airline Transport rated pilot having flown is Pilatus PC-12 aircraft around the world three times and to all seven continents.

Tame Malcolm

Operations Manager, Te Tira Whakamātaki Foundation

Aditi Mankad

Team Leader, Biosecurity & Biotechnology, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

Dr. Aditi Mankad is a senior research scientist and Team Leader with the Sustainability Pathways Program within CSIRO Land & Water, based in Brisbane Australia.  Aditi is trained in psychological science and has core expertise in psychological/behavioural issues around motivation, risk perception, emotion and behaviour change. She leads a team of social and economic scientists focused on agricultural innovation, biosecurity, and biotechnology. Aditi also leads the ‘Maximising Impact’ Application Domain within the CSIRO Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform, which houses the social and behavioural science capability within the SynBio FSP.

Emma Marris

Journalist and author

Emma Marris is an environmental writer and an Institute Fellow at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. She has written for many magazines and newspapers, including National Geographic, Wired, the New York Times, Nature and Outside. She has a Master’s in Science Writing from Johns Hopkins University. In 2011, she published her first book, Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World. In 2016, she gave at TED talk about seeing the hidden nature that surrounds us, which has been watched over a million times. She is currently writing a book about human relationships with wild animals. She grew up in Seattle, Washington, and lives with her husband and two children in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Michelle Marvier

Professor of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Santa Clara University 

My research has ranged from field ecology to risk assessment applied to Bt crops to global priority-setting for conservation. I co-authored a textbook, Conservation Science: Balancing the Needs of People and Nature, and recently co-edited Effective Conservation Science: Data not Dogma.

Katherine Moseby

Principal Scientist, Arid Recovery, Australia

Katherine Moseby is a conservation biologist who has lived and worked in the Australian deserts for more than 25 years. She is a research fellow at the University of New South Wales and specialises in threatened species conservation through innovative research and applied management. Katherine has co-founded four conservation projects in Australia and the Solomon Islands that combine high quality research with on ground conservation outcomes. Collectively, these projects protect over 100,000 ha of wildlife habitat. Her research interests include reintroduction biology, novel predator/prey interactions, threatened species biology, evolutionary biology, animal behaviour and designing and testing new solutions to reversing the extinction crisis.

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Andrew Newhouse

Researcher, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, New York

Andrew has been working on projects that overlap the fields of conservation biology and molecular biology for more than 16 years.  During the past 11 years, he has worked with the American Chestnut Research & Restoration Project, at the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science & Forestry.  This project has developed transgenic American chestnut trees that tolerate chestnut blight, a disease that nearly extirpated mature trees from their native range in the eastern USA.   Andrew has worked on a variety of aspects of this project, from genetic transformation and molecular analyses to blight screening and ecological field tests.  Most recently, he has been preparing for the US federal regulatory review process, a set of rigorous evaluations required before the trees can be distributed or used for restoration.

Ben Novak

Lead Scientist, Revive & Restore

Ben J. 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. Ben works with collaborators and partners to restore the ecology of the Passenger Pigeon to the eastern North American forests. Ben uses his training in ecology and ancient-DNA lab work to contribute, hands-on, to the sequencing of the extinct a Passenger Pigeon genome and to study important aspects of its natural history. Ben’s mission in leading the Great Passenger Pigeon Comeback is to set the standard for de-extinction protocols and considerations in the lab and field. His 2018 review article, “De-extinction,” in the journal Genes helped to define this new term.

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Megan Palmer

Executive Director of Bio Policy & Leadership Initiatives, Stanford University; Board of Directors, Revive & Restore

Dr. Megan J. Palmer is the Executive Director of Bio Policy & Leadership Initiatives at Stanford University (Bio-polis). In this role, Dr. Palmer leads integrated research, teaching and engagement programs to explore how biological science and engineering is shaping our societies, and to guide innovation to serve public interests. Based in the Department of Bioengineering, she works closely both with groups across the university and with stakeholders in academia, government, industry and civil society around the world.

In addition to fostering broader efforts, Dr. Palmer leads a focus area in biosecurity in partnership with the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford. Projects in this area examine how security is conceived and managed as biotechnology becomes increasingly accessible. Her current projects include assessing strategies for governing dual use research, analyzing the diffusion of safety and security norms and practices, and understanding the security implications of alternative technology design decisions.

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Gerry Ohrstrom

Private Investor, Former Chairmam of the Ohstrom Foundation, Workshop Sponsor

Gerry Ohrstrom is a private investor in New York City and former chairman of the Ohrstrom Foundation which was founded by his grandfather in 1953. In recent years Gerry has spent much of his time in the nonprofit sector. Prior to that, he worked in manufacturing, investment banking, and private equity. He is or has been a director of various corporations and nonprofit organizations, including the Santa Fe Institute, Reason Foundation, Intelligence Squared Debates, the Yellowstone Park Foundation, the Property and Environment Research Center, Atlas Economic Research Foundation, Africa Fighting Malaria, the Gruter Institute, the Museum of the Rockies, and the Booker T. Washington Learning Center. His primary interests include education, scientific research, economics, public policy, and issues of poverty.

Steve Olson

Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, Association of Zoos & Aquariums

Steve became Director of Government Affairs in March 2000. The Government Affairs Department represents the interests of AZA before Congress and Federal agencies. The Department monitors Federal legislation and regulations, analyzes the impact of bills and regulations on AZA members and develops position recommendations with the Government Affairs Committee and the AZA Board of Directors, supplies information on legislation and regulations to its member institutions, and works with government officials on developing effective Federal legislation, regulations, and partnerships.

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Stephen R. Palumbi

Jane and Marshall Steele Jr. Professor of Marine Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University

Steve teaches and does research in evolution and marine biology at Stanford University, and has long been fascinated by how quickly the world around us changes. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Steve has worked in Washington State, Hawaii, Massachusetts and California. Work on the genetics of marine organisms tries to focus on basic evolutionary questions but also on practical solutions to questions about how to preserve and protect the diverse life in the sea. Steve has lectured extensively on human-induced evolutionary change, has used genetic detective work to identify whales for sale in retail markets, and is working to help find species resistant to climate change. Steve’s latest book for non-scientists is about the amazing species in the sea, written with Steve’s son and novelist Anthony.

Angus Parker

Board of Directors, Island Conservation

Angus Parker is an investment manager and contract COO, with experience in managing the operations of non-profit organizations. He has served as the Director of Operations for The Nature Conservancy’s Asia Pacific Region and the Chief Operation Officer of Island Conservation. Angus has an MBA in Finance & Operations from the Wharton School of Business, and an MS in environmental science from The Johns Hopkins School. Angus is an avid diver and underwater photographer.

Neil Patterson, Jr.

Assistant Director, Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Neil Patterson, Jr. is the Assistant Director at the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. His work has been to celebrate, restore, and build relationships between indigenous communities and their aboriginal territory. This space still creates language, tradition, and story of human interaction for several thousand years. The pragmatic way in which indigenous people have co-evolved within their landscapes provides the most sublime template for reimagining and creating sustainable food, material, and energy systems.

Miguel Pedrono

Conservation Biologist, The French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD)

Miguel Pedrono was born and educated in France. From 1996 to 1998, he lived in extreme conditions in the bamboo-scrub forest of Baly Bay National Park, in Madagascar, researching the last wild Angonoka tortoises. He was able to study their demography and dynamics, and thus help recommend and form conservation strategies for the recovery of natural populations, including the first reintroduction of captive-bred individuals to the wild, an effort supported by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. In 2000 he received his PhD in Ecology from Paris-VI University for his studies on the integration of in situ and ex situ conservation approaches for the Angonoka tortoise. In 2001 he took up a lectureship in ecology at the Paris-XI University. Since 2002, Miguel has been a researcher in Conservation Biology and project coordinator at CIRAD.

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Francisco Pelegri

Professor of Genetics and Medical Genetics, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Francisco Pelegri has studied early animal development for over 30 years, joining the faculty at the Departments of Genetics and Medical Genetics at the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 1999. His laboratory studies the zebrafish and its relative species as a model system to understand fundamental principles of animal embryology and develop new tools in conservation genetics. He explores the integration of interdisciplinary methods, undergraduate and graduate education and field studies toward the preservation of animal species.

Ryan Phelan

Co-founder and Executive Director, Revive & Restore

Ryan Phelan is the Co-founder and Executive Director of Revive & Restore, with a mission to enhance biodiversity through the genetic rescue of endangered and extinct species. Ryan works with some of the world’s leading molecular biologists, conservation biologists, and conservation organizations to develop pioneering genetic rescue projects using cutting-edge genomic technologies to solve previously intractable wildlife conservation challenges such as those posed by inbreeding, exotic diseases, climate change, and destructive invasive species. She organized a landmark workshop on genetic rescue at the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress, and acted as a principal investigator for the 2015 IUCN- and Rockefeller Foundation-sponsored Bellagio Conference on Biodiversity Conservation in the Context of Synthetic Biology.

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Karen Poiani

Chief Executive Officer, Island Conservation, California

Karen Poiani, Ph.D. was appointed Island Conservation’s CEO in July 2016. Dr. Poiani’s diverse leadership and management experience includes roles as chief conservation strategy officer, director of science, conservation program director, gender and diversity leader, and courtesy assistant professor (at Cornell University). She spent 17 years with The Nature Conservancy and served on the organization’s global executive team. Karen also worked as director of evaluation and learning at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Dr. Poiani earned a B.S. in Environmental Science from Stockton State College, New Jersey, an M.S. in Botany, and a Ph.D. in Ecology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. She lives with her daughter in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Kent Redford

Principal, Archipelago Consulting

Kent H. Redford is Principal at Archipelago Consulting established in 2012 and based in Portland, Maine, USA. Archipelago Consulting was designed to help individuals and organizations improve their practice of conservation and has worked with the Global Environment Facility, U.S. National Park Service, Moore Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Packard Foundation and the American Zoo and Aquarium Association amongst others. Prior to Archipelago Consulting Kent spent 14 years at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in New York. Previously he spent five years as head of Science and Stewardship in The Nature Conservancy’s Latin American Division. He started his career with a decade on the faculty at University of Florida where he co-founded the Program for Studies in Tropical Conservation and the Tropical Conservation and Development Programs. He received his Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University and has written numerous articles and books on synthetic biology and conservation, national parks, local peoples, conservation, and wildlife. He has organized and co-organized four meetings bringing together conservation biologists and synthetic biologists to discuss the future of nature in an increasingly synthetic world.

Yasha Rohwer

Associate Professor of Philosophy, Oregon Institute of Technology

Yasha Rohwer is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Oregon Institute of Technology.  He specializes in environmental ethics and the philosophy of science.  His research focuses on values in conservation biology, the use of technology for conservation, the nature of scientific explanation, and the use of idealized models in science. He has published in journals such as Philosophy of Science, the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Erkenntnis, Synthese, Environmental Values, Conservation Biology, Restoration Ecology, and Ethics, Policy & Environment.

Paul Robbins

Director, Nelson Insitute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Paul Robbins is the director of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he guides the institute in serving as a world leader in addressing rapid global environmental change. He is spearheading several new initiatives in educational innovation, including the establishment of a professional master’s degree in Environmental Conservation. He also oversees a rapidly growing undergraduate environmental studies program.

Robbins is also strengthening the Nelson Institute’s commitment to the Wisconsin Idea through the expansion of its innovative service-learning and internship programs, partnerships across campus and with outside agencies and organizations, and community programs and public events.

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Oliver Ryder

Director of Conservation Genetics, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, California

Oliver A. Ryder, PhD, is Director of Conservation Genetics and holds the Kleberg Chair at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. He oversees laboratory group that undertakes studies in the areas of molecular genetics, genomics, and stem cell biology. These efforts benefit from his long involvement with the Frozen Zoo® project, a unique resource of cell cultures that has made notable scientific contributions in the field of conservation and other biological disciplines. His professional career has been devoted to developing and applying genetic research methods in support of endangered species conservation efforts for species held in the Zoo and wild populations.

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Royden Saah

Program Manager, GBIRd, Island Conservation 

Royden Saah, of Island Conservation, coordinates an international, multi-disciplinary, non-profit partnership focused on next generation technologies to prevent extinctions of endangered species. The Genetic Biocontrol of Invasive Rodents (GBIRd) Program is composed of governmental, academic and NGO organizations from Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S. The approach is to understand technical opportunities and constraints while also understanding how acceptable this type of technology would be to stakeholders. Our goal is to create a safe gene drive system that has the ability to affect population level changes in invasive rodents on islands.

Robert Scheller

Professor, Forestry and Environmental Resources, Center for Geospatial Analytics, NC State University, North Carolina

Dr. Scheller is Professor of Landscape Ecology at North Carolina State University in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources and the Director of the Dynamic Ecosystems and Landscapes Lab. He is the President of the International Association for Landscape Ecology and he is a member of the Emerging Plant Diseases and Global Food Security Cluster at NCSU. He grew up in Minnesota and received his B.S. in Biology from the University of Minnesota and Masters and Doctoral degrees in Forest Ecology from the University of Wisconsin. His research focuses on how landscapes have changed, how they will change, and why it matters.

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Philip Seddon

Director of Postgraduate Wildlife Management Programme, University of Otago

Phil Seddon is a conservation biologist and Director of the Postgraduate Wildlife Management Programme at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Phil works primarily in the area of invasive species management and endangered species restoration. He is a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s Conservation Translocation Specialist Group and a co-author of the IUCN Guidelines on Reintroductions. He also headed the IUCN/SSC Task Force that derived the Guiding Principles on Creating Proxies of Extinct Species for Conservation and has been a commentator exploring the pros, cons and bioethics of de-extinction.

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Brad Shaffer

Director and Distinguished Professor, La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science, University of California, Los Angeles

Brad Shaffer is interested in evolutionary biology, ecology and conservation biology of amphibians and reptiles. Recent research projects include comparative phylogeography of amphibians and reptiles in California and the central U.S., systematics of freshwater turtles and tortoises in Australia, California, and the rest of the globe, and conservation genetics of endangered California amphibians and reptiles. Recently, he has focused a great deal of ecological and genetical work on the California tiger salamander, an endangered species native to central California grassland habitat.

Beth Shapiro

Professor, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, University of California, Santa Cruz

Dr. Beth Shapiro is an evolutionary biologist who specializes in the genetics of ice age animals and plants. She uses DNA recovered from bones and other organic remains to study how species and communities evolved through time and how human activities affected this dynamic process. Her PhD research developed new tools to infer temporal changes in species’ abundance and distribution from chronological samples of genetic data. She has since used these to trace evolutionary changes in organisms ranging from influenza to mammoths, asking questions about domestication, admixture between species pairs, and pathogen evolution. Her current work develops techniques to recover and analyze increasingly trace amounts of DNA, such as from environmental and forensic samples.

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Doug Smith

Senior Wildlife Biologist for Yellowstone National Park

Dr. Doug Smith has been the Senior Wildlife Biologist for Yellowstone National Park since 2008 and is the Project Leader for the Yellowstone Wolf Project.  Under his leadership, the project was established to reintroduce wolves to Yellowstone National Park which led to him supervising the elk and bird programs as well.  Doug is a well-published author of many articles and books including the soon-to-be-released Yellowstone Wolves: Science and Discovery in the World’s First National Park, which commemorates the twenty-fifth anniversary of the historically significant reintroduction project.

Mike Sweeney

California Executive Director and Managing Director of Global Fisheries, The Nature Conservancy

Mike Sweeney is Executive Director of The Nature Conservancy in California and Managing Director of Global Fisheries. He joined The Nature Conservancy’s California Chapter in 1998 as a project director, became Director of Real Estate in 2000, and became Chief Operating Officer and Associate State Director in 2001. In 2007, he was named Executive Director of the California Chapter, and in 2016 he added the role of Managing Director of Global Fisheries.

Mark Tercek

Environmentalist

Mark Tercek served as the Chief Executive Officer of The Nature Conservancy—the global conservation organization known for its intense focus on collaboration and getting things done for the benefit of people and nature—from July 2008 to June 2019. He is the author of the Washington Post and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling book Nature’s Fortune: How Business and Society Thrive by Investing in Nature.

Growing up as a city kid in Cleveland, Mark was a late-bloomer to conservation. It was becoming a parent that sparked his passion for nature. “I want to be able to look my kids in the eye,” he says, “and tell them I did all I could to leave the world a better place.”

Delphine Thizy

Stakeholder Engagement Senior Advisor, Target Malaria 

Delphine Thizy is the Stakeholder Engagement Senior Advisor to Target Malaria, a non-for-profit consortium of researchers developing an innovating vector control approach to save millions of lives from malaria. She has over 10 years’ experience in the field of stakeholder engagement in lower-income countries, with a particular attention on conflict drivers.

She holds a BA in Political Sciences, specialized in International Relations and Middle East Studies. After receiving her Master’s Degree in Economic development studies and project management from the Pierre Mendes University, France (Grenoble, France), she worked in advocacy for Palestinian farmers’ rights before holding several positions within PlaNet Finance in the Middle East and South Asia. There she was responsible for technical assistance to microfinance institutions in post-conflict countries as well as leading a team for capacity strengthening of various civil society groups.

Whitney Tilt

Principal, Conservation Benchmarks

Whitney Tilt is a principal at Conservation Benchmarks in Bozeman, Montana. Whitney has spent a career working in wildlife and natural resource conservation, addressing a wide range of challenges from Colorado River water allocations and black-footed ferret recovery to Asian tiger conservation and evaluation of federal fisheries programs. He earned a Masters of Environmental Science from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and began his introduction to the Greater Yellowstone Region ranching in the Tetons of Idaho. Whitney is author of the Flora of the Yellowstone and a founder of High Country Apps LLC, developing interactive field guides for smartphones and tablets.

Alison Van Eenennaam

Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis

Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam is a Cooperative Extension Specialist in the field of Animal Genomics and Biotechnology in the Department of Animal Science at University of California, Davis. She received a Bachelor of Agricultural Science from the University of Melbourne in Australia, and both an MS in Animal Science and a PhD in Genetics from UC Davis. Her publicly-funded research and outreach program focuses on the use of animal genomics and biotechnology in livestock production systems. Her current research projects include the development of genome editing approaches for cattle. She serves as the bovine genome coordinator for the USDA National Animal Genome Research Program, served as a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Study Committee for “Science Breakthroughs 2030: A Strategy for Food and Agricultural Research,” and is an elected Fellow and current chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Agriculture, Food, and Renewable Resources Section O.

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Kristen Walker

Senior Vice President, Center for Communities and Conservation at Conservation International; Chair, IUCN Commission on Environment Economics and Social Policy

Kristen is the Senior Vice President for the Center for Communities and Conservation at Conservation International, an IUCN member. In this role, she provides critical leadership on a range of social and international policies and practices related to indigenous peoples and local communities, gender, human rights-based approaches, social safeguards, as well as engagement with the peace and development community. Throughout her 25-year career, Kristen has advocated effectively and globally to improve the engagement of indigenous peoples and local communities in conservation through a human rights-based approach and a focus on people-centered conservation.

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Michele Weber

Director of Conservation Innovation, Revive & Restore

Michele Weber joined the Revive & Restore team in January 2020 bringing scientific expertise, program development skills, and an enthusiasm for science, nature, and conservation.

Michele is an evolutionary biologist with over ten years’ experience in scientific research and philanthropy. Using a creative strategy to address scientific challenges, Michele has conducted research on threatened coral reefs around the world, working on questions related to symbiosis and biodiversity. More recently, Michele helped develop the scientific priorities and program strategy for the Symbiosis in Aquatic Systems Initiative at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

At Revive & Restore, Michele sources and develops diverse collaboration opportunities and innovative scientific solutions. She works with conservationists, scientists, government agencies and funders to build projects and strategies that address some of the world’s most pressing conservation challenges. Michele holds a Ph.D. in Integrative Biology and a BS in Molecular and Cell Biology, both from UC Berkeley.

Renee Wegrzyn

Program Manager, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

Dr. Renee Wegrzyn joined DARPA as a Program Manager in 2016, where she applies the tools of genome engineering and synthetic biology to support biosecurity, enable flexible biomanufacturing, and outpace infectious disease.  Her portfolio includes the Living Foundries, Safe Genes, PREPARE, and DIGET programs. Living Foundries seeks to transform biology into an engineering practice by developing the tools, technologies, methodologies, and infrastructure to prototype and scale engineered microbes that can produce molecules that are of value for government and commercial use. Safe Genes aims to deliver novel biological capabilities to facilitate the safe and expedient pursuit of advanced genome editing applications, while also providing the tools and methodologies to mitigate the risk of unintentional consequences or intentional misuse of these technologies. PREPARE (Preemptive Expression of Protective Alleles and Response Elements) is focused on applying the tools of genome engineering to create potent, transient, and reversible medical countermeasures to combat biological, chemical, and radiological threats to public health and national security. DIGET (Detect It with Genome Editing Technologies) is focused on applying the tools of genome engineering to detect any threat, any time, anywhere. 

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Bruce Whitelaw

Professor of Animal Biotechnology, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

Society of Biology. Bruce Whitelaw is currently Deputy Director (Partnerships) at The Roslin Institute where holds the Genus Chair in Animal Biotechnology. Bruce was awarded a BSc degree in Medical Microbiology (Virology elective) from the University of Edinburgh in 1982 and his PhD in 1987 from the University of Glasgow. He has dedicated his career to the development and application of genetic engineering technologies in animals. Building from early work in transgenic livestock as bioreactors of human biomedical proteins in milk, Bruce has pioneered the use of lentivirus vectors for transgene delivery and more recently genome editors for precise genetic engineering of livestock. He seeks to apply this technology in the field of animal biotechnology, specifically to develop novel ways to combat infectious disease in animals, evaluate strategies to enhance overall reproductive efficiency and explore opportunities to develop new treatments of disease through appropriate genetically engineered animal models.

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Matthew Winkler

Chairman and Founder, Asuragen; Board of Directors, Revive & Restore

Matt is a lifelong biologist and environmentalist.  He received a B.S. degree in Genetics and a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of California at Berkeley.  He joined the Zoology Department as an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Austin in 1983.  In 1989, as an Associate Professor, he started Ambion Inc., a molecular biology “tools” company.  He is the author of over 30 publications and has 19 issued patents.  In March of 2006, with the goal of more directly influencing patient’s lives, he sold the research products division of Ambion to Applied Biosystems and with about 100 employees started Asuragen. Asuragen is an in vitro molecular diagnostics company with worldwide distribution of its products focused on cancer and genetic diseases.  He sits on the boards of The Breakthrough Institute and several advisory boards associated with The University of Texas.  Matt has been active in pro-GMO issues since 2000.leting a book about what kinds of conservation experimentation we should be considering in response to the unfolding Sixth Extinction Event.

Josh Wodak

Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University

Dr. Josh Wodak works at the intersection of the Environmental Humanities and Science & Technology Studies. His research addresses the socio-cultural dimensions of the climate crisis and the Anthropocene, with a focus on the ethics and efficacy of conservation through technoscience, including Synthetic Biology, Assisted Evolution, and Climate Engineering.

Mark Zimring

Director of the Global Tuna Program, The Nature Conservancy

Mark Zimring is Director of The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC’s) Global Tuna Program. He also leads special projects on behalf of TNC’s California Chapter. Prior to TNC, Mark spent time on Wall Street and at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.  He has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, an MPP from UC-Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, and an MS from UC-Berkeley’s Energy & Resources Group. Mark lives in Truckee, CA with his wife, their two kids, and their belligerent dog.