Sarah loves the underdogs of the animal world. In 2013 she got up close with her study species for the first time. When doing an externship at the Seattle Aquarium, she witnessed a natural tragedy firsthand. Sea stars off the coast of Seattle were dying by the millions. The culprit? A disease called sea star wasting. After that, sea stars never let Sarah go again and she decided to dedicate her PhD to the impact changing ocean conditions caused by climate change have on sea stars. Sarah is a PhD candidate at the College of Veterinary Medicine and a passionate advocate of animal welfare for invertebrates. Sarah wishes to thank everyone who made her PhD research possible; she is especially grateful to the Wildlife Disease Association Wildlife Veterinary Section and American Association of Zoo Veterinarians Wild Animal Health Fund for grands which funded this research. Cat recorded the interview with Sarah at the conference of the Australasian section of the WDA (WDAA) in late Nov 2022. Wanna learn more about the WDAA conferences? Click on this link. Learn nore about Sarah's research and the sea stars here.