As Chief Conservation and Wildlife Health Officer for the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Dr. Nadine Lamberski leads a unified team of conservation scientists, conservation practitioners, wildlife nutritionists, and wildlife veterinary professionals, cultivating a strategic approach to conservation efforts. She is aligning SDZWA with other global conservation organizations by supporting holistic One Health initiatives that protect and restore biodiversity; advance wildlife sustainability, health, and well-being; promote human-wildlife coexistence; share knowledge and benefits equitably; and cultivate partnerships and conservation leaders. 

She is a graduate of UGA’s CVM, completed an internship at the UT CVM and Zoo Knoxville and a zoological medicine residency at UCD SVM. She worked at Riverbanks Zoo in South Carolina before joining the veterinary team at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in 2001. In 2016, she joined SDZWA’s executive leadership team. 

Lamberski has focused her career on the health and well-being of zoological species, as well as on the impacts of disease on the conservation of small, fragmented wildlife populations. Field experience includes studying black-footed cats in southern Africa, thick-billed parrots in northern Mexico, desert tortoises in the Southwestern US, and working with partners at the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary in northern Kenya. 

Lamberski is a past president of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians She is an adjunct professor at the UCD OHI and the WHC. She has contributed to over 100 scientific publications and presentations, and is currently a co-editor for Fowler’s Zoo and Wild Animal Medicine textbook.