Senior Biologist
Chris has been working with bolson tortoises on the Turner Ranches since 2007. She initially worked as a volunteer, but in 2010, was contracted to direct the tortoise breeding program. In 2012, Chris joined the Turner Endangered Species Fund to oversee the bolson tortoise project. Also in 2012, Chris took on the Mexican Gray Wolf project on the Ladder Ranch. Chris is excited to be able to get up close and personal with these two very different but equally enthralling species.
Chris received bachelor’s degrees in Biochemistry and Organismal Biology from the University of Kansas in 1989 and a Ph.D. in Cell Biology from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1996. Following a post-doctoral fellowship at the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Baltimore, Chris took a position in the Biochemistry Department at the University of Wisconsin – Madison where she studied the biochemistry of cellular organization during cell division. Chris has won several awards for her cell biology work and has authored a number of journal articles and book chapters.