Founder of the once Punta San Juan Project. She was awarded a Licentiate degree in Biology at UPCH (1980) and a PhD in Zoology at the University of Cambridge, UK (1988). In 1982 she began to direct the PSJ research program as a field based research program with the longest duration on the coasts of Peru, which studies how natural events (eg. ENSO) and anthropogenic activity (eg. fisheries) events may impact populations of marine species. Since 1996 she has led marine conservation efforts in Peru, promoting the establishment of marine protected areas and raising public awareness for the importance of ecosystem and the socio economic impacts of industrial fishing of Peruvian anchoveta. For her work in marine conservation she has been awarded the "Women in Conservation" Prize offered by the Charlotte Wyman Trust, the Lindbergh Award, the Whitley Gold Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Award for Conservation offered by the Saint Louis Zoo, and PEW Scholarship Award, and the BBVA Foundation award for conservation actions in Latin America.