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Rowena Watson is currently in her second year with the U.S. Department of State in the Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science where she is a Diplomacy Fellow through the American Association for the Academy of Sciences (AAAS) serving a two-year position for scientists in policy-making. At the State Department she is engaged in a multitude of wildlife conservation issues. For example, she works on multilateral
international conventions such as The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) and wildlife associated projects within the environmental chapters of free trade agreements. The fellowship has enabled Rowena to broaden her skills and vision for working in the conservation arena, serving as a bridge from her previous work as a scientist. Rowena completed her doctoral degree in 2003 at the University of Maryland College Park within the Department of Animal Sciences,Veterinary Pathology. Her dissertation work was on the immunopathogenesis of plague in cats, catering to her long-standing interest in comparative pathology and wildlife disease. Her undergraduate work was done at The University of Chicago with a concentration in biology.