Educated in the United States and Australia, Andrea was the first person in the world to complete a Ph.D. on the study of manta rays with the help of the WDHOF scholarship. The scholarship helped to jump start her career, which supported her early Ph.D. work on manta rays in Africa. After completing her thesis in 2008, Andrea stayed on in Mozambique to spearhead the conservation of this species along this remote coastline. Shortly afterward, she co-founded the Marine Megafauna Association, which grew into the now widely known Marine Megafauna Foundation, a 501(c)(3) registered charity in the United States. Her passionate commitment to the eastern African coast has shaped her goals as a conservation biologist. Vowing to dedicate her life to the preservation and management of manta rays worldwide, Andrea continues to campaign for their protection and use her scientific background to formulate plans for their management. Learning to dive at a young age, Andrea was certified at the age of twelve. Thousands of dives later, Andrea is now one of the leading marine field biologists in southern Africa. Almost a decade after her arrival in Africa, Andrea’s world-leading manta ray research program continues to examine aspects of their biology, reproductive ecology, habitat use, migrations, and social behavior. Aside from dramatically increasing the level of knowledge on manta rays themselves, in 2009 Andrea discovered one of the largest new species of manta rays to have been described by any scientist in the last 50 years.