Melanie McField

Melanie McField is the founder and Director of the Healthy Reefs for Healthy People Initiative (HRI), a multi-institutional effort to track the health of the reef ecosystem and our management progress in ensuring its long-term integrity. Melanie lived and worked in Belize for over 20 years; first as a Peace Corps volunteer/field biologist and then with World Wildlife Fund, and since 2006 with the Smithsonian Institution. She has a PhD from the University of South Florida, with published research interests focused on coral reef community ecology, coral bleaching, chemical contamination, and management effectiveness evaluations. She is an effective communicator, and has been featured on television appearances including the TODAY show, MSNBC, National Geographic, Animal Planet and the BBC.