Research
My research is focused on studying the behavior, health, and survival of marine species such as sharks and other ocean giants, and leveraging these findings to catalyze conservation efforts in the ocean. My research approach is defined by creativity and outside the box thinking, and I am especially passionate about using cutting edge tools and organizing large collaborative teams to create the conservation evidence to solve emerging conservation challenges. I am involved in cutting-edge scientific research in the below core areas.
Sharks
With shark research programs built and executed in than 20 countries across North America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, and Asia, I maintain a diverse and wide-reaching shark science footprint globally. My work focuses on the movement, health, behavior, and microbiomes of iconic and ecologically-important species.
I currently maintain two large shark monitoring arrays in The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos to study long-term patterns in tiger, hammerhead, and reef sharks. I’m also tracking the horizontal and vertical migrations of blue and mako sharks in the open Atlantic, surveying the microbiome of basking sharks off Ireland, and exploring the health of sharks across the Dutch Caribbean. Through these projects, I collaborate with over two dozen partners from the public, private, and academic sectors.
Ocean Giants
As some of the largest organisms to ever live on Earth, ocean giants are animals of superlative. I study some of the biggest and most mysterious marine animals in the ocean—sunfish, large whales, giant squid, and deep-diving predators—across oceans from the Indo-Pacific to the Caribbean. These giants are more than awe-inspiring: they’re key to unlocking new insights into evolution, climate resilience, and even biomedical innovation. From partnering with mola mola to understand human health, to decoding the language of killer whales off Mexico, my work integrates field expeditions, functional genomics, and microbiology to reveal what makes these species so extraordinary, and why they matter for us and our planet’s future.
Deep-sea
The deep sea is still Earth’s greatest mystery, and I’ve spent the last decade helping to uncover it. Through expeditions across the Caribbean, Atlantic, and western Pacific, I designed and deployed innovative deep-sea cameras and sampling tools to reveal new information on species, their biological traits, and the importance of conserving these habitats. From deepwater sharks to giant isopods, this work is building biodiversity baselines, guiding conservation planning, and powering future breakthroughs in biotechnology.