Meet the Staff

Linda is the Founder and Director of SEZARC and enjoys the challenge of running a not-for-profit business. Linda has a strong background in reproductive biology and especially likes the challenge of troubleshooting reproductive problems in diverse species. Her career started working on terrestrial animals, including antelope and felids, but later expanded to include aquatic species, including sharks, rays, and coral. Linda also enjoys being involved in strategic decision-making to achieve conservation goals. Outside of work she enjoys reading and has been in the same book club for over 23 years!

Lara manages much of SEZARC’s operations by tracking projects and handling administrative aspects of SEZARC. She also oversees the intern program. Lara’s background includes behavior and reproductive endocrinology, and more recently, the emerging area of animal wellbeing. Lara also supports the endocrine labs with data interpretation and assistance with report writing. She enjoys spending her free time with her family and horseback riding.

Kat leads the SEZARC endocrine laboratory at the University of North Florida (UNF). She uses enzyme immunoassays to measure hormone concentrations in numerous species and provides instruction to UNF volunteers and interns. Kat is especially interested in elasmobranch biology. Kat loves cats—domestic and wild—and enjoys keeping tabs on the zoo animals that were born from pregnancies monitored by SEZARC.

Erin works in the gamete laboratory where she leads efforts for genome resource banking, with an emphasis on elephants. She handles gamete rescue cases and also manages the SEZARC Genome Resource Bank. Her background includes amphibian and mammalian reproductive physiology, embryo culture, and cryopreservation. Erin loves riding her motorcycle with her dog and visiting natural areas to go herping or birding.

Caitlin works in the endocrine laboratory where she runs enzyme immunoassays to generate data for a wide range of species. Caitlin helps validate our assays for new species and is involved with data interpretation and report preparation. She is also responsible for lab safety and compliance. She spends her free time with her family and two dogs and enjoys reading a good thriller!

Maeve leads the SEZARC endocrine laboratory at White Oak. She uses enzyme immunoassays to measure hormone concentrations in numerous species. In addition, Maeve has specialized training in the development of wildlife wellbeing assessments, which was the focus of her Master’s research. In her free time, Maeve loves to travel, and she is an avid reader.

Annais is SEZARC’s postdoctoral researcher. She has a background in elasmobranch science and is currently developing non-invasive methods to assess genetic diversity of elasmobranchs. She also studies the reproductive biology of the bowmouth guitarfish and is investigating artificial insemination techniques for this species. Annais enjoys beach days with her daughter, salsa dancing, and promoting minorities in shark sciences (MISS).

Lillian (Lily) is working on a multi-institutional collaborative project investigating wellbeing in Grevy’s zebra, bongo, and scimitar-horned oryx. She conducts behavioral observations at zoos all over the USA and compiles data that will be used to better understand ungulate wellbeing. Lily enjoys trying new crafts and exploring state parks and nature reserves!

Francine volunteers her time to assist with studies and procedures, including collecting behavioral information from giraffes, and assisting with writing reports and manuscript preparation. Fran is also a member of SEZARC’s Board of Directors. Fran is an avid birder, nature photographer, and gardener!