The Team

Cynthia Smith serves as the Executive Director for the National Marine Mammal Foundation (NMMF.org), a nonprofit organization based in San Diego, California. Smith is charged with furthering the NMMF’s mission to improve and protect life for marine mammals by integrating exceptional care with innovative science, national service, and public education. Over the course of her career, Smith’s research efforts have focused on enhancing marine mammal health and welfare, with an emphasis on advancing non-invasive imaging techniques for the rapid assessment of animal health. Following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Smith served as a lead veterinary scientist for NOAA’s Natural Resource Damage Assessment, specifically to help determine the adverse health effects on wild bottlenose dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico. Smith earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine with a Veterinary Thesis in Aquatic Biomedicine from Tufts University and then completed a National Research Council Post-Doctoral Associateship with the U.S. Navy’s Marine Mammal Program. She also completed Executive Education at Harvard University in nonprofit management and finance. Smith understands the importance of giving back locally and globally through scientific expertise and high-quality research to improve conservation and marine mammal protection efforts worldwide.