Jodie Rummer

Dr. Jodie Rummer’s background is in marine biology and comparative physiology. She is currently a Professor of Marine Biology at James Cook University and was a Research Associate with the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies from 2011 - 2020. But, prior to joining JCU, Jodie’s academic training started in the U.S. (BSc and MSc degrees from the University of West Florida), took her to Canada (PhD from the University of British Columbia), and then to Hong Kong for a short post-doctoral fellowship. Dr. Rummer joined JCU in 2011 as an ARC Super Science Fellow (2011-2014), continued on as an ARC Early Career Discovery Fellow (2015-2017), and was promoted to full Professor on 1 July 2022. Internationally, Dr. Rummer is also on the editorial board for three scientific journals and, in 2020, was invited to the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Committee (IOC) advisory panel on global deoxygenation (Global Oxygen Network, GO2NE), which is part of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development program.

Professor Rummer has accolades for her research as well as her capacity to communicate and connect her findings to broad and diverse audiences. She received the highly prestigious UNESCO-L’Oréal Women in Science Fellowship for Australia and New Zealandand the Society for Experimental Biology’s President’s Medal, was named one of Australia’s top 5 scientists under the age of 40 by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Radio National (RN), presented a TEDx talk (“Athletes of the Great Barrier Reef”), was named one of the Women in Science Ambassadors for the Australian Government Department of Industry, Innovation, & Science, and was awarded Queensland’s Tall Poppy outstanding early career researcher, scientist of the year in 2019.

Jodie gave the President’s lecture at the New England Aquarium in Boston and was an invited speaker at the Gills Club Symposium “Shark Tales: Women Making Waves” and educational outreach day in 2017. Jodie gave a Planet Talk at WOMADelaide in 2019, which was attended by over 100,000 people, regarding the harmful effects of oil drilling and pollution on marine life, which was featured in short documentary called Wild Waters and covered by the Adelaide Review, the ABC, andSustainable Home Hub. Jodie also spoke at the World Science Festival in Brisbane in 2019 on “Saving what we’ve got: Australia’s wildlife under threat” and “Let’s talk: Sharks”, both sold out events reaching in person and online audiences exceeding 100,000. Dr Rummer spoke at the 2021 Global Biodiversity Festival, is currently a spokesperson for the Climate Media Centre,and also works closely with Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef and the Great Reef Census.

Jodie and her team, through the work of Tom Vierus, produced an 8-minute documentary covering their ongoing (since 2013) shark research in French Polynesia, which debuted at the New York City Wildlife Conservation Film Festival and four other Film Festivals so far (with >25,000 reached on social media) as well as two short videos (check them out here and here). Jodie has also discussed her team’s shark research on National Geographic Wild, Ocean Treks with Jeff Corwin, and on Discovery Canada and Shark Week (see Twitter and Facebook for short clips).

Over the course of her career, Dr. Rummer has researched fish buoyancy, exercise, and is a leading authority on the evolution of oxygen transport and how fish maintain performance during stress. Today, Jodie’s team combines physiology, ecology, and evolution to address issues important to conservation, such as the effects of climate change and other anthropogenic problems on coral reef fishes, sharks, and rays and the potential for adaptation. Jodie has published more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and 13 book chapters as well as dozens of editorials, and she has presented her work at more than 100 professional conferences and public events worldwide.

You can find out about Dr. Rummer’s research and her lab at www.jodierummer.com and www.physioshark.org, on Instagram (@RummerLab and @physioshark), Facebook (Physioshark Project), and on Twitter (@physiologyfish) where she communicates scientific findings, highlights fellow scientists’ success stories and achievements, and advocates for issues related to women in science, gender equity, and diversity in STEM.