School to Career - Riverhead Foundation - Program Director


		Stranding Hotline
		58 Foot Whale
		Swimming with Dolphin
		Drawing Blood
		Whale Press Release
		Dolphin Feeding
		Species ID Card
		Seal Chart
		Feeding the Seals
		In the Lab
		Data Collection
		Message to Students
		Mission

The stranding program at the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation was established to help rescue and care for stranded marine mammals. The busy job of overseeing this program belongs to the stranding program director.

Kimberly Durham, a marine biologist, holds this position at the Riverhead Foundation. Her responsibilities include maintaining all federal permits and authorizing the many activities that are conducted by staff members and volunteers.

Classes involved with natural sciences helped Kimberly prepare for this career. She recommends that students take a course schedule that includes laboratory classes such as chemistry, physics, ecology, cell biology and microbiology. Additionally she suggests courses dealing with statistics, public speaking, computer analysis and English composition (for grant writing). A college degree is generally required by most organizations hiring in this field and Kimberly also says that students should be open to pursuing an advanced degree such as an MS or Ph.D.

Along with all of the course work necessary to run such a program, it is important to be good at managing your time, have some leadership skills and be physically fit. You should be able to lift 50 to 70 pounds.

Kimberly started her career by volunteering for the Riverhead Foundation on the whale watch excursions. She was later hired as a biologist in the field of marine mammal and sea turtle rehabilitation.

She needs to remain flexible in her daily schedule, since there may be a need to respond to the 24-hour emergency rescue line at any time. Kimberly's daily activities include routine evaluations of in-house animals such as seals, sea turtles or dolphins. She also coordinates with staff and volunteers who are trained to restrain animals while she collects data such as blood samples and weight. Often she needs to consult with the program's veterinarians on the results of blood tests and evaluations. She then does follow-ups with the prescribed course of treatments. With 35 to 40 animals in-house this can take up a lot of time. An examination of one seal can take as long as four hours.

Other responsibilities include IV treatments or fluid therapy for newly arrived animals and conducting necropsies in the post mortem room.

Kimberly found that networking and meeting key people while volunteering was extremely valuable in reaching her current position. "Research the availability of field excursions involved with eco-tourism, or volunteer for a non-profit where you can work with marine mammals" suggests Kimberly. "This is an excellent way to determine which aspects of this career most interest you."