Paula Alonso
Qualifications
Degree in Veterinary Science
Internship in Wildlife Population Health 2020-21
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Current Position
PhD Student, Atlantic Center for Cetacean Research, Animal Health and Food Safety Institute (IUSA), Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Predoctoral INPhINIT Retaining Fellowship, La Caixa Foundation
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Overview
Following my passion for nature, conservation and medicine I’m working as a Wild Animal Population Health Intern with The Wildlife Conservation Medicine research Group (WildCoM) at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), alongside a great time of European College of Zoological Medicine (ECZM) Wildlife Population Health specialty residents and diplomats.
We complete our training, participating actively in WildCoM research projects and PhD theses with both lab and field work, attending ECZM lectures, conferences and seminars, and working on the planification, execution, discussion and exposition of my own projects in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team, obtaining from the theorical and practical frameworks the scientific skills and tools that will allow me to continue to improve in the field of conservation medicine.
My personal and professional goal is to unite conservation medicine with investigation and education, as an attempt to not only preserve but restore our planet, to re-create a place we can all cohabite.
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Background
I graduated in veterinary science at Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 2019. I completed my thesis on reptile metabolism specifications with the Wildlife Anatomy and Embryology department in collaboration with the Biofunctional Studies Research Support Group (CAI). During my studies I was able to work in several wildlife and rescue centres and in zoos both in Spain and France (Zoo Aquarium de Madrid, CEDAF – École Nationale de Vétérinaire de Maisons Alfort). I also completed different internships in institutions such as IUSA (ULPGC) working with marine mammals, and collaborated in several marine environmental awareness projects and workshops, driving my career into the wildlife medicine path.
After my graduation, merging these skills with my outgrowing vocation for conservation I took part in a scientific audiovisual project based on the achievement of the ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ by the UN, sailing across the equator creating alliances to solve locally worldwide problems , where I worked as a scientific documentalist, in charge of SDGs 14 and 15 (‘Life below water’ and ‘Life on land’).
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