Staff

Lori Marino, PhD

Lori is a Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology at Emory University, Atlanta and a Faculty Affiliate of the Living Links Center for the Advanced Study of Ape and Human Evolution. Her research expertise and interests include the evolution of intelligence and self-awareness in other species, noninvasive studies of brain and behavior, cognitive ethology, human-nonhuman relationships, and animal welfare, ethics, and conservation. She has worked extensively with dolphins and chimpanzees and, in 2001, co-authored the first definitive evidence of mirror self-recognition in a non-primate species, the bottlenose dolphin. She is also involved in NASA Astrobiology Program initiatives on the evolution of intelligence and active in many animal advocacy and sheltering efforts. She is Co-founder of Act For Dolphins, an international coalition seeking the end of the annual Japanese dolphin hunts. Dr. Marino also co-founded the Atlanta Animal Studies Group, a group of faculty interested in scholarly exploration of the cultural and ethical relationship between humans and other animals.

Lorin Lindner, PhD, MPH

Loren is a clinical psychologist and public health specialist in Los Angeles. Dr. Lindner has served as Clinical Director of New Directions for Homeless Veterans at the Greater Los Angeles Veteran's Association Medical Center for over ten years. She has initiated an inter-species recovery programme that places rescued parrots in a sanctuary there, Serenity Park, where veterans undergoing rehabilitation for trauma, care for the traumatized rescued birds. She is also an adjunct faculty member at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California teaching courses in Human Development and Abnormal Psychology, and has published widely on domestic violence, child abuse, and violence against animals.

Vera Muller-Paisner, LCSW

Vera has spent the last dozen years studying the chronicity and transmission of trauma. She is a psychoanalyst and the daughter of Holocaust survivors. From 1989-1999 she started and led groups for second-generation children of Holocaust survivors in Stamford, Connecticut. In 1996 she was appointed to the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine. Her study of the transmission of trauma across generation has led her to be interested in the transmission of trauma across species. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) produces suffering in many species. One of the tools that she has found to be effective in managing memories of trauma in humans is a protocol called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing ( EMDR). In recent years, she has been adapting protocols for use with animals, specifically with horses, who display traumatic memory. Responses to treatment are helping to alleviate the suffering that PTSD produces in all species.

Joseph Daniel Mitchell, MS

Joseph is a fullblood citizen of the Creek Nation and a member of the Muskogee Indian Community. For the past 26 years, he has worked in environmental sciences and conservation on tribal and federal lands with the tribes, the USDA Forest Service, Washington, DC, and Bureau of Indian Affairs. He was Senior Executive Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and has worked with more than 200 tribes across the nation. Joe consults with tribal governments and communities on Indian law and treaties and advocacy for tribes to exercise treaty rights on federal lands, and implement traditional practices. He has also been involved in the evolution of several of the 26 tribal colleges throughout the country and has assisted many with establishing traditional ecological knowledge programs.

Marc Bekoff, PhD

Marc Bekoff Ph.D. is a former Professor of Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and co-founder with Jane Goodall of Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and teaches through Roots and Shoots at school and prisons. He has won many awards for his scientific research including a Guggenheim Fellowship, and is a prolific writer with more than 200 articles as well three encyclopedias to his credit. His is author of numerous books, including the Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare, The Ten Trusts: What We Must Do to Care for the Animals We Love (with Jane Goodall),the Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior, and the Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relationships, his most recent books include The Smile of a Dolphin, Minding Animals, Animal Passions and Beastly Virtues: Reflections on Redecorating Nature, The Emotional Lives of Animals, and Why Animals Matter. Marc was presented with The Bank One Faculty Community Service Award for the work he has done with children, senior citizens, and prisoners.

Signe Preuschoft, PhD

Signe Preuschoft PhD is the Head of Competence Centre Apes, Vier Pfoten ( Four Paws International) Austria & The Anthropological Institute, Zurich, CH. Signe has published and worked extensively with nonhuman primates in diverse settings. She studies the effects of disruptions of social relationships and development in chimpanzees and orangutans. Signe divides her time between Europe and rehabilitation centre in Wanariset, Borneo, founded in 1991, where she studies and works to rehabilitate orangutan orphans.

Phoebe Greene Linden, MA

Phoebe Greene Linden MA is a world renowned lecturer on companion parrot behavior. Phoebe is an author of innumerable articles on understanding, and supporting health and vitality of parrots in captivity. She writes extensively including "Abundantly Avian: The Compiled Works of Phoebe Green Linden." Phoebe and Harry Linden own and care for the Santa Barbara Bird Farm where they support and attend over fifty parrots including a wild flock of Amazons for over thirty years.

Deb Merskin, PhD

Debra Merskin Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies in the School of Journalism & Communication at the University of Oregon. For the last fourteen years, Dr. Merskin has focused on connections between mass media representations, stereotyping, and the construction of evil and threat in the collective unconscious. Her research focuses on the relationships between predators, trauma, and human habitat encroachment. As part of her work on her second doctoral degree in Depth and Ecological Psychology, Pacifica Graduate Institute, she is exploring the ongoing controversy surrounding hunting and the Oregon cougar. She is currently at work on a book that examines the psychological underpinnings of stereotype formation, a chapter, co-authored with Debra Durham, which examines the rhetoric of laboratory animal experimentation, and research about the conditions of predator animals. She is an advisory board member of Predator Defense.

Toni Frohoff, PhD

Toni is a behavioral and wildlife biologist who has been studying marine mammal behavior and interspecies communication for over 20 years. She specializes in stress and welfare in captive and free-ranging dolphins in response to human activity. As Research Director for TerraMar Research and the Whale Stewardship Project, she conducted the first studies of interactive programs with dolphins in both captivity and the wild. She also co-initiated the first research on free-ranging beluga whales and orcas who interact with humans. Her work has contributed to the revision and implementation of management protecting marine mammals in almost a dozen countries. Dr. Frohoff’s research is frequently featured in both popular and scientific books and journals and in the media (including Smithsonian and Time magazines and Animal Planet and National Geographic television). She is co-editor of the anthology, “Between Species: Celebrating the Dolphin-Human Bond” and has recently co-authored the book, “Dolphin Mysteries: Unlocking the Secrets of Communication” (2008, Yale University Press).

Elke Riesterer, CMT

Elke is a Certified Massage Therapist and registered Jin Shin Do Practitioner with the broad experience of having worked with people and animals for over 25 years. She has been volunteering in the capacity of an all species Body Therapist at the Oakland Zoo since 1997 and uses a combination of body-centered therapies including her most favored modality, the Tellington Touch (TTouch™). The focus of her work centers in general around the complex well being issues of Elephants worldwide. Besides her work with Elephants at the zoo, Elke also tends to animals such as the giant Aldabra Tortoises, Monitor Lizards, Snakes and Giraffes. She has lectured extensively and has brought her work to the Elephant and Rhino Orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya, and toThailand and India at many locales. In addition to many exotic species, Elke works with Horses, Dogs and other home animals. Her upcoming book describes her love and healing journey with Elephants in different countries. Numerous articles have featured her mission.

Ruth A. Klaus, CACC

Ruth is a professional companion animal consultant and caregiver. She endeavors to provide education and bring awareness to significant issues surrounding companion animal guardianship. Ruth offers support to those experiencing grief for and loss of a companion animal and other species. She alerts people to concerns such as the contaminated food recall of spring 2007, temperature and confinement issues, and those of disaster and relocation planning. Her next project is to create material directing people in establishing legal measures for care of their companion animal in the event of their death or incapacitation. She also assist Gay Bradshaw, Executive Director of The Kerulos Center. Ruth’s explanation of why she does animal caregiving is, “I love and value animals. I have a deep commitment to their welfare. They make me laugh and bring me joy. It's that simple.”