Dr. Kathryn Matthews

Dr. Katie Matthews is the chief scientist at Oceana, the world's largest advocacy organization dedicated to marine conservation. She's responsible for ensuring their campaigns are informed by the best and most current scientific understanding, as well as tracking emerging issues, advising on strategic direction, and supporting the more than 50 staff scientists across the organization's offices in 12 fishing nations. She oversees Oceana's co-chairing of the global Coalition for Fisheries Transparency, serves as a program advisor for the Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation and sits on the board of the Oyster Recovery Partnership. Her varied work environments have included Arctic ice caps, Capitol Hill, international treaty negotiations, and the waters of the eastern tropical Pacific. After 10 years in research, she returned to Washington D.C., her hometown, to work as a legislative fellow in the U.S. Congress and then for the Office of Marine Conservation in the U.S. State Department. Her science-based policy work continued with the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation and then the Pew Charitable Trusts, where she ran a marine conservation and sustainable fisheries grantmaking program. She also served on the Society for Conservation Biology's Board of Governors, heading its Marine Section's board of directors as president from 2017 to 2019. She holds master's and doctorate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in Earth and Environmental Science.