Originally from St. Andrews, Manitoba, Leah Isfeld moved to Vancouver to attend The University of British Columbia in 2018. Her interest in fisheries science and conservation stems from spending much of her time near Lake Winnipeg and the Red River, and witnessing the stressors impacting these aquatic ecosystems.
While obtaining her BSc at UBC, she worked as a research assistant in the Faculty of Forestry, and later as a collections assistant in the Beaty Biodiversity Museum’s Fish Collection. Later on, she worked in the Schluter Lab, assisting in ecological and evolutionary biology research utilizing threespine sticklebacks.
Prior to joining the Sea Around Us, Leah worked as a field technician at the Raincoast Conservation Foundation’s Wild Salmon Program, where she was tasked with collecting data on juvenile Pacific salmon presence in Fraser Estuary marshes.
Leah is excited to be joining the Sea Around Us and having the opportunity to work with and learn from the team’s talented researchers.
In her spare time, she enjoys spending time outside biking and hiking, taking advantage of Vancouver’s accessibility to the North Shore Mountains. She also likes listening to podcasts and knitting.