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Katrina Lohan

Katrina Lohan is a parasite tracker and one of the newest principal investigators at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, headquartered on Chesapeake Bay in Edgewater, Maryland. She heads the Marine Disease Ecology Lab, launched in 2017. Before starting her own lab, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow with the center’s Marine Invasions Lab. She received her Ph.D. in Marine Science at the College of William and Mary, her M.S. in Biology at American University, and her B.S. in Marine Science at Southampton College of Long Island University. Katrina has searched for marine parasites on both U.S. coasts, Central America and the Gulf of Mexico. (Photo by Chris Lohan)

Stories from this author

North American River Otter (Lontra canadensis) at Florida's Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge. (Credit: Keenan Adams, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)

River Otters Take Party Pooping To A New Level

For river otters, pooping is a social event. And their droppings are providing a heap of information for biologists.

Lontra canadensis, the North American river otter. (Credit: Matthew Fryer)

The Secret Lives of River Otters (And Their Parasites)

If you live along the water but have never seen a river otter, it's probably because they're mostly nocturnal, and very shy. But these secretive creatures, and their parasites, hold lots of clues for scientists looking to understand disease.

Katrina Lohan analyzes parasite DNA in SERC’s Ecological Genomics Core. The results help detect parasites infecting oysters or lurking the ballast water of large ships. (Credit: Kristen Minogue/SERC)

Confessions of a Real Life Scientist: The Thrill of Learning