Mónica Medina

Mónica Medina
Born
Cali, Colombia
Websitewww.medinalab.org

Mónica Medina is a professor of organismal biology at the Pennsylvania State University. She is known for environmental activism, such as fighting to protect Varadero Reef, and her research on the ecology and evolution of symbiosis by studying the relationships between cnidarian, endosymbiotic dinoflagellates, and other microbes.

Education[edit]

Medina was born and raised in Cali, Colombia. She studied Biology at the Universidad de Los Andes before pursuing her Ph.D. in Marine Biology & Fisheries at the University of Miami under the guidance of Patrick Walsh. She described the phylogeny and population genetics of sea hares.[1] She was a post-doctoral fellow at the Marine Biological Laboratory under Mitchell Sogin during which time she explored the phylogeny and cellular complexity of fungi and metazoans.[2]

Career and research[edit]

Medina was a research scientist at the Joint Genome Institute from 2001-2005 and founding faculty member as assistant professor at the University of California, Merced. There, she pioneered the use of genomic approaches to study coral reef science and coral-algal symbiosis for studying bleaching and disease and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship[3] to work in France, the prestigious Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Award for her excellence in research,[4] and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2007.[5] Upon moving to the Pennsylvania State University, she expanded research to study coral microbiomes. She has published on the population genomic approaches to evolutionary biology and comparative genomics of model cnidarians including Cassiopea,[6] and Orbicella faveolata.[7] She is a founding member of the Global Invertebrate Genomics Alliance (GIGA).[8] She is part of Penn State's Microbiome Center.[9] She is an invited member of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing.[10]

She has studied Varadero reef near Cartagena, Colombia, and been an active promoter of community involvement to save the reef. Dr. Medina was a part of the team that produced the nature documentary, Saving Atlantis, which has been shown across the world in several languages.[11]

Diversity and inclusion in science[edit]

She has promoted underrepresented minorities in STEM through her involvement with activities including the Committee on Equity and Diversity, and in training students, such as National Science Foundation INCLUDES initiatives,[12] the Bridge to PhD for bringing Master's students from University of the Virgin Islands to Penn State. She was the impetus for the establishment of a Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) chapter at Penn State.[13] Her lab provides outreach activities to elementary schools about the importance of corals.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Medina, Mónica (1998). Molecular systematics and population genetics of sea hares (Gastropoda : Opisthobranchia: Anaspidea) (PhD thesis). University of Miami.
  2. ^ Medina, Mónica; et al. (2003). "Phylogeny of Opisthokonta and the evolution of multicellularity and complexity in Fungi and Metazoa" (PDF). International Journal of Astrobiology. 2 (3): 203–211. Bibcode:2003IJAsB...2..203M. doi:10.1017/S1473550403001551. S2CID 634421.
  3. ^ "Marine Biologist Receives Fulbright Award". University of California, Merced (Press release). April 4, 2012.
  4. ^ "Mónica Medina". The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
  5. ^ "The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers: Recipient Details: Monica Medina". National Science Foundation.
  6. ^ Ohdera, Aki H.; et al. (2018). "Upside-Down but Headed in the Right Direction: Review of the Highly Versatile Cassiopea xamachana System". Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 6. doi:10.3389/fevo.2018.00035. hdl:11449/176281.
  7. ^ Prada, Carlos; et al. (2016). "Empty Niches after Extinctions Increase Population Sizes of Modern Corals". Current Biology. 26 (23): 3190–3194. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.09.039. PMID 27866895.
  8. ^ GIGA Community of Scientists (2014). "The Global Invertebrate Genomics Alliance (GIGA): Developing Community Resources to Study Diverse Invertebrate Genomes". Journal of Heredity. 105 (1): 1–18. doi:10.1093/jhered/est084. PMC 4072906. PMID 24336862.
  9. ^ "People: Faculty". Penn State Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.
  10. ^ "Speakers". Science Writers 2019.
  11. ^ "Saving Atlantis". Oregon State University. 20 January 2017.
  12. ^ "A Pathway and Partnership Program to Engage U.S. Virgin Islanders in the Marine Sciences". CERF 2019. 7 November 2019.
  13. ^ Palmer, Seth. "Science for all". Pennsylvania State University.
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