SCCN Board Member Dr. Dana L. Wetzel graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in Biochemistry in 1979. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Oceanography from the University of South Florida in 1995 and 2000 respectively. Her research during graduate school and since has focused on assessing chemical contaminants in the marine environment, determining lethal and sub-lethal effects of such exposure, and developing methods that use lipids, hormones and DNA damage as biomarkers of health. A major focus of her work is establishing new techniques that will help to assess the impacts from environmental stress on a wide range of marine organisms from whales to corals using knowledge gained from the human medicine field.

Other significant work includes the application of protein and amino acid determinations to calculate the ages of long lived marine mammals for which no aging technique exists. With such work, Wetzel has ascertained that some whale species have life spans in excess of two hundred years. Dr. Wetzel has worked for Mote Marine Laboratory since obtaining her doctoral degree; she is currently a Senior Scientist and the Program Manager for Aquatic Toxicology. In addition to her work in Florida, she has developed research programs in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and the Arctic. Dr. Wetzel has published in a variety of journals and is an award-winning educator

"It is extremely rewarding to be able to work with such a group of dedicated individuals on the SCCN board, who are working to make ocean conservation in the Southern Caribbean a priority."