Alligators and Parasites- the life after Mission High School

My name is Marisa Tellez, Class of 1999. I was quite involved with Mission the 4 years I roamed the halls. I played soccer and was varsity captain for two years- I even got my jersey “retired” and hung up in the high school auditorium. I was involved with LIFE, GAA, and was Senior Class President. I look back to that time and realized how awesome it was to go to an all girl school. It really empowered me and taught me to be independent and strong. Although a lot of my characteristics and ideals comes from my parents, some of that inner strength was developed going to Mission, aka no one could ever tell me I couldn’t do anything because I was a girl.

So where am I now? Well, I went to UCSB as an undergrad double majoring in Zoology and Cultural Anthropology. I lived in Belfast, Northern Ireland for 18 months to study and learn more about The Troubles. I researched Mayan Culture in Guatemala, but my passion was always to work with animals- dangerous animals. I blame my father for this passion. Instead of giving me dolls to play with as a girl, he gave me books. One of the very first ones was on sharks. At an age when most girls were playing with dolls, I was developing my knowledge of the world’s top predators. Not a day went by that I wasn’t imaging my future career as a leading apex predator scientist, broadening the world’s knowledge and respect for these magnificent creatures. After years of self-education on the world’s predators, I developed a great passion for understanding the scientific and evolutionary background of one of the oldest lineages of predators on our planet- the crocodile. I came to realize that scientific research and teaching were paramount in furthering the field of crocodilian biology, as well as providing the knowledge needed to aid in the conservation of the eighteen out of twenty-three endangered species.

Currently, I am at UCLA to obtain my PhD in biology studying parasitism in the American Alligator in Louisiana. I have been going to Louisiana for the last couple of years to look at how environmental and anthropogenic impacts are altering the parasite- alligator relationship as an alteration can be detrimental to the health of the ecosystem. Not to mention to the people- alligators are one of the leading incomes for the people of Louisiana, an already poor state.

I am now reaching out to my alma mater, family and friend to help support my last field season. Due to the slow economy, government and private grants are very hard to come by. I have teamed up with 49 other researchers internationally to obtain public support and donations for our scientific research called the SciFund Challenge ( I have a personal page set up via Rockethub for my project which you can find at:

This page will describe how I will use the funds for this project. In addition, there is a link to my blog: where you can find more information about me, my project, and the story of my crocodile bite.

For any further information please contact me at :