Christiana Kumar obtained her Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology from the Institute of Environmental Health, Texas Tech University, in Lubbock Texas. There she conducted research on analytical and molecular toxicology in whales. She also collaborated on projects involving sea turtles and sharks.  It is hard to imagine a marine mammal lab sitting right in the middle of the Texas panhandle (where the local flora and fauna includes prairie dogs and tumbleweeds) but Christiana made this high desert prairie her home, where she currently resides. She obtained her M.S. in Coastal Zone Management from Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center. While there, she studied pinnipeds and domoic acid toxicosis. She received her B.S. in Psychology from the University of Phoenix. Currently, Christiana is conducting endocrinological research on whales and sharks. Christiana’s research interests are primarily in the marine mammal sciences. She has worked with pinnipeds in rehabilitative hospitals, participated in health studies of pinnipeds, conducted line transect surveys for beaked whales in the Bahamas, and delved into laboratory work where she works with whale cell lines and blubber biopsies. She has taught toxicology at both the graduate and undergraduate level and trained numerous graduate and undergraduate interns. Her teaching philosophy is one of teamwork. Everyone is treated equally, and she takes an interest in all her students, striving to help them grasp content and technique.