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Hannah Medd is an American-born research biologist known for her work with sharks. She is the founder and president of the American Shark Conservancy and concurrently contributes to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection “Our Florida Reefs” Program.

Hannah earned her Honours Bachelor of Science at the Florida Institute of Technology where she completed a dual major program focused on marine biology and ecology. Shortly afterwards, she completed a postgraduate degree specializing in Aquatic Biodiversity Management at the University of Hull in the United Kingdom. Medd completed her Master’s of Science degree at the University of Cape Town in Western Cape, South Africa where she studied marine biodiversity^[1].

Hannah had early exposure to working with sharks as scientific advisor for White Shark Projects. She regularly facilitated data collection and incorporated collection into training modules for the organization. Her regular interaction with the shark research community played an integral role in creating a science outreach initiative that increased awareness of research goals, methodology and results among the stakeholders and the public. Additionally, Medd also worked with non-profit organizations to promote conservation initiatives^[2]. Medd collaborated with an organization called Shark Savers, a group that specialized in advocacy, awareness and outreach for shark conservation. In her time with Shark Savers, Medd identified a need for increased scientific knowledge to support advocacy groups^[1]. Medd directed her efforts towards bolstering their awareness initiatives by providing scientific support to the conservation initiatives purported to the organizations she has, and continues, to contribute to^[3]. This experience inspired Medd to found the American Shark Conservancy^[4]: an organization focused on actively addresses shark conversation issues by facilitating research that provides actionable conservation knowledge.

In 2018, Medd was received the Save Our Seas Foundation Keystone Grant^[5] to begin research aimed at understanding the impact of land-based hammerhead shark fishing in Florida. Medd also nominated for the 2015 Blue Ambassador of the Year award^[6], recognizing her significant contributions to ocean conservation through the American Shark Conservancy.

Hannah has a strong background in research and research communication. Significant scientific contributions include a long-term diver survey in Florida that employed divers as citizen scientists. The project focused on using divers to record shark sightings at specific locations. Data collected from this study played an integral role in advising the Federal Commercial Fishery Assessment Committee on lemon shark (Negaprion brevirostris) aggregations at key sites in Florida and established specific locations as essential fish habitats^[7]. Medd also co-authored the first report documenting the illegal trade in manta ray gill rakers in Florida. This work led to the addition of Manta rays to the appendix II in the CITES listing, thus restricting their trade^[8]. Extensions of this work include Medd’s co-author contributions to the proposal for the CITES appendix II index as well as co-authorship on a paper assessing the value proposition and economic contributions associated with manta rays^[9]. Medd is currently partnered with the Save Our Seas foundation to evaluate the effect of recreational catch-and-release land-based fishing for great hammerhead sharks^[5]. Hannah is an active advocate of shark welfare and has been recognized for her contributions in the STEM field^{[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]}.