Staff List

kaz croppedKathy Zagzebski, M.E.M., President & Executive Director
508-743-9888 x301   kzagzebski@nmlc.org
Kathy joined the National Marine Life Center as President and Executive Director in March, 2005.  For the previous seven years, she led the Stranding Department at The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California, where she was responsible for rescue operations along a 600-mile stretch of the California coast.  From 1997 to 1998, she served as Program Manager for the Georgia Coastal Management Program, and helped achieve a federally-approved coastal zone management program for the state.  Kathy has volunteered for a variety of marine mammal projects including animal rehabilitation crews at The Marine Mammal Center; dolphin research/training and whale research at the Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory in Hawaii; the marine mammal stranding network in North Carolina; and several dolphin monitoring projects.  She graduated magna cum laude from Augustana College, and received her master’s degree in coastal environmental management from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University.  She is a member of the Society of Marine Mammalogy, the International Sea Turtle Conservation, the American Cetacean Society (where she serves as president of the board), the National Marine Educators’ Association, and the Massachusetts Marine Educators’ Association.  An alumna and board member of the Cape Leadership Institute of Cape Cod and the Islands, Kathy also serves on the board of the Buzzards Bay Vitalization Association, on the Main Street Steering Committee of the Bourne Financial Development Corporation, and on the advisory committee of the Environmental Technology Program at Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical High School.

IMG_3536Joanne Nicholson, Executive Assistant & Outreach Coordinator
508-743-9888 x302   jnicholson@nmlc.org
Joanne graduated with a B.S. in Biology with a Minor in Women’s Studies from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. During College Joanne worked at the Women’s Resource Center at Umass Dartmouth and also volunteered with the National Marine Life Center and Cape Cod Stranding Network. Joanne worked in the National Marine Life Center’s Marine Animal Discovery Center as a manager of the gift shop during the summers from 2001-2003. During that time Joanne volunteered her extra time to give education programs at the center.   In 2003 Joanne took a job with Boston Biomedica a division of Sera Care Life Sciences where she was a Manufacturing Associate working to process blood plasma to make controls for human blood test kits. When Joanne is not at National Marine Life Center she works at Cape Cod Veterinary Specialist on weekends as a Ward Nurse in the Emergency and Critical Care Department. Joanne is a member of the National Marine Educators Association, Massachusetts Marine Educators and the Massachusetts Association of Science Teachers. Joanne oversaw a youth group for middle school aged kids through Trinity Church, Northborough from September 2005 through June of 2008. Joanne joined the National Marine Life Center team in April of 2005 as our Executive Assistant and Outreach Coordinator.

Hospital 2009-06-10 023Brian Moore, Animal Care & Facilities Coordinator
508-743-9888 x307   bmoore@nmlc.org
Brian Moore serves as NMLC’s Animal Care and Facilities Coordinator.  Brian comes to us with many years of experience in animal care, having worked at the Alaska Sealife Center (ASLC) as an aquarist intern and life support technician while also volunteering his time in the rehabilitation and animal husbandry departments.  After leaving the ASLC, Brian spent three years at the Alaska Zoo working his way up from a volunteer to a zookeeper position responsible for the care and training of numerous arctic and sub-arctic animals, including (his favorite) “Ahpun” the polar bear.  Brian graduated in 2001 from Colorado State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology. During college, he worked as entomologist assisting in a study of organic pesticides on food and maintaining a traveling live arthropod collection.  He spent a summer mentoring inner city kids at a camp and enjoyed teaching them various activities such as archery, fishing, canoeing, and rock climbing.  Brian has also fished professionally in the commercial salmon industry, worked at a gold camp in a remote town called Chicken (an actual gold mining town!), and served four years in the U.S. Navy.

IMG_0068Sea Rogers Williams, V.M.D., Science Director & Associate Veterinarian
508-743-9888 x308   rwilliams@nmlc.org
Sea Rogers Williams is an aquatic and companion animal veterinarian who lives on Martha’s Vineyard with his significant other, Bridget Dunnigan MS DVM, who is also an aquatically trained veterinarian.  They live with their three dogs, two cats, and five birds where they enjoy hiking, kayaking, and international travel to explore the worlds avifauna.  They own and operate the Vineyard Veterinary Clinic in Edgartown.  Currently employed by the National Marine Life Center, Dr. Williams started his aquatic training during vet school at the University of Pennsylvania by attending AquaVet® and AquaMed® courses and participating in the Aquatics club.  After a few years in companion animal and mixed animal practice Dr. Williams added more formal training, completing a clinical internship at the National Aquarium in Baltimore.  Upon moving to the Vineyard he realized that there was no on-island veterinary stranding program.  Roger and Bridget have been the primary responders to over a hundred marine mammal and sea turtle strandings as volunteer veterinarians working under the Stranding Agreement of the New England Aquarium.  In 2002 they accepted a split position as veterinary medical officers for NOAA Fisheries and as the veterinarians for the Woods Hole Science Aquarium.  They responded as government veterinarians to standings, marine animal transports, and provided the veterinary care for the aquarium’s collection of seals, fish, and invertebrates.  They helped  re-establish a sea turtle rehabilitation program at the aquarium in coordination with the New England Aquarium.  In 2007 they left the aquarium and Dr. Williams accepted the position of director of science, and in 2008 as the attending clinical veterinarian, for the National Marine Life Center.  Dr. Williams has a long established interest in infectious disease, particularly parasitic interactions, occurrence, and disease.  Dr. Williams has published scientific articles in the fields of fish ophthalmology, marine mammal hematology, sea turtle pathology, infectious disease, and parasitology.

Picture 087-cropped BDBridget Dunnigan, D.V.M., Associate Veterinarian
508-743-9888 x309   bdunnigan@nmlc.org
Dr. Dunnigan has over 12 years’ experience working within the Northeast Region Stranding Network.  She has worked as a veterinary medical officer for NOAA, and also works in private practice with Dr. Williams.  Dr. Dunnigan has a master’s degree in zoology from Arizona State University and a veterinary degree from the University of Minnesota.

By Michelle Bosch 346-cropped LauraLaura Doucette, Outreach & Retail Team Member
508-743-9888 x312, nmlc@nmlc.org
Laura started as a volunteer with the National Marine Life Center and was hired to help staff our Marine Animal Discovery Center during the summer.   She also helps order items for the gift shop.  Laura continues to volunteer with NMLC’s education programs and at the Mermaid Ball.  Laura is a sophomore Johnson and Wales University majoring in International Hotel and Tourism Management.

IMG_1060-cropped JackieJackie Niles, Outreach & Retail Team Member
508-743-9888 x312, nmlc@nmlc.org
Jackie started as an intern with the National Marine Life Center and was hired to help staff our Marine Animal Discovery Center during the summer.  She also helps manage our volunteer program.  Like Laura, Jackie continues to  volunteer with NMLC’s education programs and at the Mermaid Ball.  Jackie is a senior at the University of Rhode Island majoring in Biology.