Keynote Speaker—Terrie Williams, PhD

Meet Our Closing Keynote Speaker 

Terrie M. Williams, PhD
Distinguished Professor; Director of Integrative and Comparative Energetics Lab and the Marine Mammal Physiology Project, University of California, Santa Cruz

Keynote Presentation: The Master Switch of Life: A Daring Journey into the Untamed Brain
Location: Long Beach Convention Center
Date: Sunday, April 23, 2023, 11 a.m. PDT

We are excited that Terrie M. Williams, PhD, a renowned wildlife ecophysiologist and author who has studied terrestrial and aquatic mammals for more than four decades, will give the closing keynote presentation at the American Physiology Summit. Williams is a distinguished professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). At UCSC, she heads the Integrative Carnivore EcoPhysiology lab and is the director of the Marine Mammal Physiology Project. 

Williams researches the survival physiology of terrestrial and aquatic mammals, including sea otters, narwhals, polar bears, African lions and Weddell seals. Her research expeditions have taken her from the polar regions of the Arctic and Antarctic to the savannahs of Africa and the mountainous California coast. She developed many of the instruments used in her studies. Williams and her students strive to understand the ecological significance of large mammals and their exquisite physiological adaptations necessary for species survival in a world that is constantly changing due to human impacts. Her most recent research has focused on the “Master Switch of Life,” the mammalian brain.  

Dedicated to solving challenges faced by underrepresented groups in the sciences, Williams is especially interested in introducing field research to all students and the public. She has written several popular books, including “The Odyssey of KP2,” about her efforts to conserve endangered Hawaiian monk seals, which won the 2012 American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Award for Science Book and Film Prize (Young Adult Science Books). To recognize Williams’ decades of fieldwork on Weddell seal physiology, the United States Geological Survey Antarctic Site Designation on Ross Island, Antarctica, is named “Terrie Bluff” in her honor. 

Read in The Physiologist Magazine how Williams’ work with big animals has had a lasting impact on conservation efforts. 

Williams will speak at 11 a.m. on Sunday, April 23, 2023, the final day of the inaugural American Physiology Summit. She joins fellow keynote David Julius, PhD, and a slate of speakers exploring the science behind the biggest issues impacting life and health today.