Dr. Pikitch is the Executive Director of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science and Professor, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS), Stony Brook University, New York. The Institute for Ocean Conservation Science was founded as the Pew Institute for Ocean Science in 2003 at the University of Miami, where it successfully conducted groundbreaking research over the past five years. Pew Institute research led to significant protections for great white sharks, including international trade restrictions on these sharks and their parts, and the development of sophisticated DNA forensic techniques that U.S. enforcement agents are now using to detect and prosecute the illegal sale of shark fins and carcasses. Institute scientists have also led groundbreaking sturgeon conservation research that led to the listing of beluga sturgeon under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, a worldwide ban on trade of wild sturgeon caviar in 2006, and a ban on U.S. imports of beluga caviar.

While at the Wildlife Conservation Society, she founded and directed both the Marine Conservation Program, developing the program to include field-based programs in 19 countries spanning four oceans, and the Ocean Strategy Program, with a focus on ecosystem-based fisheries management. Prior to joining WCS, Dr. Pikitch was on the faculty of the University of Washington for nine years and directed its Fisheries Research Institute from 1992 to 1996.

Dr. Pikitch has convened international conferences, led several major oceanic field expeditions, and directed a variety of quantitative fisheries assessment projects. A recipient of the Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation (2000-2003), Dr. Pikitch has authored and edited over 100 articles and books on fisheries science and management, including "SHARKS OF THE OPEN OCEAN" published by Blackwell in 2008.

For the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Pikitch has been a member of committees on Dolphin Mortality from Tuna Fishing, Ecosystem Management for Sustainable Marine Fisheries, and Cooperative Research Between Industry and the National Marine Fisheries Service. In 2000, Dr. Pikitch served on President Clinton’s Panel on Ocean Exploration. Currently she is the Vice Chair of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Sturgeon Specialist Group and a member of the Environmental Sustainability Task Force commissioned by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Dr. Pikitch received a Ph.D. in Zoology from Indiana University in 1983 and M.A. and B.S. degrees in Mathematics from the City College of New York.

See NY Times article about Ellen, "Don’t Worry About the Teeth, Sharks Still Need a Hug "