Human well-being and ocean health are closely intertwined: The marine environment plays a critical role in climate regulation and provides important resources to people—from food and medicines to nutritional supplements, coastline protection, and materials used in agriculture, cosmetics, and construction. But our oceans also face unprecedented threats, including pollution, overfishing, and climate change.
Marine conservation research is vital for finding solutions to these challenges and informing management decisions to protect ocean ecosystems. To strengthen connections between marine and biomedical sciences and foster innovative research with the potential to improve human health, The Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation and the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences have partnered with the Herbert W. Hoover Foundation on a fellowship positioned at the intersection of the two research fields.
Much of the cutting-edge science being applied in marine conservation research today—including techniques such as gene editing and monitoring for environmental contaminants—has roots in the biomedical field, which is larger and typically better resourced. The new fellowship is designed to accelerate the transfer of techniques from biomedicine to marine science, with the goal of benefitting both people and the environment.
“We are thrilled to help launch this collaboration between the two Pew programs,” said Caiti Waks, program and outreach director for the Herbert W. Hoover Foundation. “Each program has a proven track record of identifying exceptional scientists and cultivating vibrant, collaborative networks within their respective communities. This crosscutting fellowship builds on those strengths by forging meaningful connections between the two programs.”
Robert Richmond, a 2006 Pew marine fellow based at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, has seen firsthand the value of exchanges between marine science and biomedical research.
“Collaboration with colleagues in pharmacology has been critical to our success in advancing coral reef conservation,” Richmond explained. “By harnessing biomedical tools and approaches, we can now identify, understand, and address the sources of coral stress at sublethal levels—from chemicals found in common sunscreens to swimming pool water in runoff—and reduce them before corals lose reproductive capacity, bleach, or die.
“The crossover tools and techniques allow us to move from correlation to actual causation to diagnose and treat affected corals and evaluate the effectiveness of management interventions in real time, from days to weeks rather than months to years.”
Tools and approaches such as advanced imaging and bioinformatics, which uses computers to analyze complex biological information, also have roots in biomedicine and are now commonly applied in marine science. These techniques have enabled researchers to evaluate the biodiversity effects of conservation interventions, such as oyster reef restoration, and to better understand and manage the population dynamics of vulnerable marine species.
Phillip Cleves, selected in 2023 as the first recipient of the Pew-Hoover Fellowship in Marine and Biomedical Science, uses gene editing techniques to understand the factors that make some corals more likely to survive and recover from heat stress. He hopes to use this information to improve coral reef restoration by enabling practitioners to find wild corals with these traits so they can be propagated and protected—making reefs more resilient to climate impacts.
As a member of both Pew programs, Cleves has helped link the two robust, but often siloed, communities of scientific expertise.
“The [Pew-Hoover] fellowship presents the possibility of taking technology built for medicine and applying that technology to ecological problems, with the deep understanding that ecological health is human health,” Cleves said. “The connection between environmental and human health will only become more apparent as ecosystems degrade and pollution and populations increase, impacting our environment and contributing to human disease and suffering.”
Marine life such as corals and anemones can be useful model organisms for biomedical research, thanks to their extreme longevity and regeneration. But they remain a largely untapped resource that could help answer larger conservation questions as well as unlock new scientific insights that benefit both fields.
“The Herbert W. Hoover Foundation has a long history of supporting interdisciplinary work, particularly at the intersection of marine and human health,” Waks explained. “Recent HWHF-funded research identified links between harmful algal blooms in Florida and increased rates of neurodegenerative diseases in dolphins.”
“Subsequent studies in primates revealed similar patterns, demonstrating the neurotoxic effect harmful algal blooms can have on local populations,” she added. “Uncovering these connections is not only critical for protecting human health but also for inspiring public engagement. When people understand how environmental issues impact their own well-being, they’re far more likely to take action to protect both the environment and their health.”
“Ocean research has vast potential to benefit people—from drug discovery to improved environmental safety,” said Angela Bednarek, director of Pew’s scientific advancement portfolio. “The Pew Fellows Program in Marine and Biomedical Science is accelerating this type of interdisciplinary work to drive innovative solutions for human and ocean health.”
The next Pew-Hoover fellow will be announced in 2026.
Nathan Fedrizzi works on the Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation.