2012 Executive Board
• President -Mark Rath
Mark has worked in the aquaculture field for the past 12 years, with experience in several sectors of the industry and completed his M.S. in Aquaculture from the University of Maryland MEES program in 2004. During his time at UMD, he worked with several species, including yellow perch, striped bass, Atlantic sturgeon, menhaden, blue crabs and oysters.
Since 2004 Mark has worked for Charles River on the aquatics contract at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. For the past 3 years Mark has served as the Shared Zebrafish Facility Manager and has been instrumental in the development, construction, testing and startup of the largest zebrafish laboratory in the world. Nearing completion, the S.Z.F. serves both the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development and the National Human Genome Research Institute.
Mark currently lives in Takoma Park, MD with his wife, Jessica, and his daughters, Elena and Lilliana.
• President Elect - Lauren Pandolfo
Lauren Pandolfo is currently the lab manager for Dr. Deborah Yelon at the University of San Diego, CA. Her role is to contribute to efforts directed at serving the research community at UCSD using zebrafish as a model system, with a particular focus on efforts and research related to the mechanisms regulating zebrafish heart development.
She has been rearing larval fish in a laboratory setting for over 7 years and specifically zebrafish for the past 5 years. Her wide ranges of experiences in this have given her a great wealth of knowledge on disease, environmental needs, larval rearing, and overall health of the animals. She has strived to provide improvements in health and monitoring, training on new techniques and any other improvements to the well being of the animals in both UCSD labs and the labs of fellow colleagues in the zebrafish community.
Lauren has established a strong record of success, productivity, and innovation in the care and rearing of zebrafish and other fish species. By drawing on theoretical knowledge and practical experience, Lauren plans to utilize her specific expertise to explore new research directions, and help get the community involved and informed on critical information and trends in zebrafish husbandry.
Lauren has a B.S. in Marine Biology from Roger Williams University and a M.S. in Biology from New York University.
• Vice President - Eric Herbst
Eric has 14 years of experience in the aquaculture, fisheries science, and zebrafish research communities. Currently he holds the positions of Research and Development Manager and Senior Biologist with Aquatic Habitats, Inc. where he has worked for the past nine years. His responsibilities include the design and engineering of zebrafish housing systems and husbandry equipment as well as system commissioning and training. Prior to joining Aquatic Habitats, Inc., Eric earned a M.S. degree in Fisheries Science, with a specialization in Aquaculture, in 2002 from Louisiana State University’s School of Renewable Natural Resources where he also worked as an Aquaculture Research Assistant and gained experience in fish genetics. While at LSU, Eric worked with a number of fishes including channel catfish, Nile tilapia, and zebrafish. Eric’s work experience also includes Fish Farm Operations on a commercial hybrid striped bass farm in North Carolina and Aquaculture Research Assistant at Virginia Polytechnic and State University where he worked with Red Drum.
Eric has been a long time member of The American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, The American Fisheries Society, and The World Aquaculture Society. He has also been a member of The Zebrafish Husbandry Association(ZHA) since its inception as the New England Zebrafish Husbandry Association.
• Secretary - Carrie Barton
Carrie is a Zebrafish Husbandry Specialist at the Sinnhuber Aquatic Research Laboratory, Oregon State University. Her primary focus at SARL is to optimize and develop husbandry methodology to facilitate research using zebrafish, while also maintaining a specific pathogen free facility. In addition, she is also working on increasing facility efficiency to support high throughput in vivo screening, and provides technical support for projects using zebrafish as a model to study nutritional deficiencies.
She enjoys providing mentoring and education opportunities for undergraduates interested in the field and SARL participates as a practicum host site for the Oregon Coast Community College Aquarium Science program.
Her 14 year career in zebrafish husbandry started at the University of Oregon-Zebrafish Facility, after which she spent 9 years on staff at the Zebrafish International Resource Center as the Nursery and Fish Rooms Manager. Carrie has a BA from the University of Oregon in English, with an emphasis on education.
• Treasurer - Doreen Bartlett
Doreen is the Laboratory Animal and Fisheries Facilities Manager at the NIH with NICHD in Bethesda, Maryland. She is responsible for program and facility support for five different Institutes in the support of multiple aquatic facilities utilizing zebrafish, Xenopus laevis and tropicalis.
Doreen holds a BS in Animal Science from the University of Maryland and an Associates degree in Veterinary Technology from Essex Community College. She is a Registered Veterinary Technician and is certified at the LATG level with AALAS. Doreen has worked with a variety of species in the research, companion, and sports industry including zebrafish, Xenopus, sea urchins, midshipmen fish, mice, rats, cats, dogs, and horses.
Copyright © 2010 ZHA. All Rights Reserved
