Preveterinary Student Helps Restore Sea Turtle Population

Postbaccalaureate Premedical student Lisa Terezakis spent the summer of 2009 dedicated to her new passion—restoring the endangered population of the Loggerhead turtle in Mexico.

Working alongside a team of ecologists, biologists, community members, fishermen and community organizers, Terezakis learned about the importance of the dialogue with community members in order to impact an endangered population. According to Terezakis, however, simply seeing wildlife in their natural habitat was enough to make her summer internship worthwhile.

“The experience was incredible. During beach patrols for mammal strandings, I took regular trips to an unpopulated island where I observed sea lions playing in the waves. We slept under the stars on top of a mountain overlooking the Pacific Ocean; it was life-changing” Terezakis said.

Terezakis learned about the project while enrolled in Columbia professor Dr. Alonso Aguirre’s Disease Ecology and Conservation class. Aguirre, the senior vice president for the Wildlife Trust’s Conservation Medicine Program, told Terezakis about his work with the project, which included the study of sea mammal strandings and maintaining the health of the Loggerhead sea turtle population through physical exams, blood sample collection and skin biopsies. Terezakis swiftly signed-on.


Despite the joy she experienced in her internship, the harsh reality of the threats against the loggerhead population quickly emerged.

“The worst part of the trip was performing a necropsy on a young (turtles can live upwards of 30 years), healthy Loggerhead turtle who was ready to make her first trip to Japan to lay eggs; she drowned in a fishing net,” Terezakis said.

In the face of the project’s challenges, Terezakis explains that she feels empowered, not discouraged.

“We are at a key junction in animal, public and environmental health. Each impacts and is vulnerable to the other. In order to address any one aspect, a collaborative and transdisciplinary approach is essential among veterinarians and other scientists, and I am excited to work in a broader capacity which involves collaboration among community members, public health, and ecology specialists,” Terezakis said.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prior to enrolling in the Postbac Premed Program, Lisa Terezakis attended the University of Connecticut where she studied anthropology and French. Terezakis worked as an Off-Broadway, film and television actress as well as a personal fitness instructor, but eventually realized her volunteer work became more important to her than her professional pursuits. Terezakis is currently applying to veterinary medical schools.