Pacific Marine Mammal Center Welcomes New Vice President

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — The Pacific Marine Mammal Center has brought in leading marine mammal expert, Hendrik Nollens, to the organization as Vice President of Conservation Medicine and Science.

Dr. Nollens has worked with multiple stranding centers and networks in his career, including The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, the Marine Mammal Stranding Networks in Belgium and in Southland, New Zealand, and SeaWorld’s rescue operations. His addition to the leadership team will expand PMMC’s contributions to the broader marine mammal scientific and conservation network.

Dr. Nollens has long-been considered one of the world’s foremost leaders in marine mammal medicine. His background and scientific expertise will have a tremendous impact in our overall marine mammal and ocean stewardship conservation efforts. Dr. Nollens’ level of experience will allow PMMC to maximize our animal care operations locally to address gaps in data and understanding, and lead to collaborative projects to benefit the greater scientific community.

His achievements include pioneering dolphin anesthesia, performing the first-ever spinal tap on a dolphin, and a recent North Atlantic right whale calf intervention. He serves as a board member of the International Association for Aquatic Animal Medicine (IAAAM) and the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund and formally served as vice chair of the NOAA Working Group for Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality Events (UMEs). In addition, he is a member of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Wildlife Disease Association.

Dr. Nollens received his veterinary degree from the University of Gent in Belgium, master’s degree in marine biology from the University of Otago, New Zealand, and PhD in infectious diseases of marine mammals from the University of Florida.

His doctoral research focused on poxvirus infections of pinnipeds in rehabilitation. He previously served Vice President of Animal Health for the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens parks, as well as Clinical Assistant Professor in marine mammal medicine at the University of Florida. He has authored over 50 peer-reviewed papers on various topics of marine animal health and diseases.

We are looking forward to Dr. Nollens getting to know you all and for you to meet him. And with that, we'd like to invite you to one of two "Virtual Meet & Greet" events in June. These will be limited in size, so that they can be interactive and intimate.

You can register to join the session here.