David Woodruff is a professor in the Division of Biological Sciences at UC San Diego. He is interested in phylogeography and conservation genetics: the role of population genetics and ecology in determining the past and future evolution of animal species. Most of his attention is now devoted to helping biologists meet their greatest challenge: that of ensuring the future evolution of animal species.He received his Ph.D. and D.Sc. from the University of Melbourne, Australia and from 1969-74 was at Harvard University where he was a Frank Knox Fellow and an Alexander Agassiz Lecturer on Biogeography. He served as the founding Chair of the Ecology, Behavior & Evolution Section at UC San Diego, and is currently a Trustee of the Zoological Society of San Diego and fosters research and conservation at the San Diego Zoo, Wild Animal Park and Center for the Reproduction of Endangered Species.