Dr. Ryan Takeshita is the Deputy Director of Conservation Medicine, supporting the Conservation Medicine team and the Director, Dr. Forrest Gomez. A research scientist with the NMMF since 2017, he served as the Research Coordinator for the Consortium for Advanced Research on Marine Mammal Health Assessments (CARMMHA) and has helped lead the NMMF’s scientific contributions to natural resource damage assessments involving marine mammals. From sample processing during field health assessments to modeling and analytics, securing funding, drafting manuscripts and reports for the government and public, managing multi-disciplinary, multi-institution collaborative teams, and engaging in education and outreach opportunities, Ryan enjoys the many facets of the the NMMF’s mission. Prior to joining the NMMF, Ryan worked in environmental consulting, assessing the toxic impacts of chemical releases into the environment and pathological threats to human health. He holds a Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a B.A. in Biology from Pomona College.