Staff Laboratory Technician II (Animal Pathology)
As a UCSC undergraduate volunteering as a docent at Long Marine Laboratory, I watched MWVCRC being built from the ground up and had grand ideas of working here. I graduated with a Bachelors in Biology and Environmental Studies from UCSC in June of 1997. I volunteered during oil spill responses in July and November of 1997 and started working as a laboratory assistant at MWVCRC in January 1998.
From 1998 to 2003, I helped with setting up the newly opened facility by starting various log books, purchasing supplies and equipment, designing a database for managing sample inventories and various data related the live and dead wildlife that we examined and sampled, assisting our veterinary pathologist with necropsies, and assisting with data and sample collection from wild caught sea otters.
In 2003, I took a leave of absence and joined the Peace Corps working as a marine conservationist on the island of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia. I returned to MWVCRC in June of 2004. I am currently focused on a sea otter toxicology study and working with our IT guru, Miles Reed, to update our databases that store sample and research data.