Joy Reidenberg, PhD
JOY REIDENBERG is a professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai in New York. She is a comparative anatomist, specializing in the vocal and breathing apparatus of mammals, particularly cetaceans, that is whales, dolphins and porpoises. Joy acknowledges it is rather weird to be in the marine mammal field and be a medical school professor, but her interest in marine mammals really comes from being so excited about their adaptations and how they survive in such an unusual environment. Her goal is to try and understand these adaptations, bring the information back to the human condition and then remake those adaptations for treatment of human disease such as emphysema or cystic fibrosis. In addition, she hopes to develop protective devices to help deal with issues like decompression sickness for people who have to live and work in similar unusual environments.
Joy was always interested in art, science and animals, but had no idea what she wanted to do for a career. Her father suggested she look in the phone book, which Joy actually did. It wasn’t until she reached Veterinarian that she found something that peaked her interest. However, she went to intern briefly with a veterinarian and took pre-vet in college, but decided the job was more that of a technician and did not involve the level of creativity and curiosity she wanted to bring to her life’s work.
Joy attended Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, where she was in the College of Arts and Sciences, because she couldn’t decide which to study! She earned her bachelor’s degree there, and received her masters and doctorate (Biomedical Sciences: Anatomy) from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine Graduate Program in Biological Sciences.
It was the Chairman of the Department of Anatomy at vet school, who had a PhD, who told her to stop chasing the DVMs, and go for a PhD – a degree in research. He gave her a job dissecting a giant jar of toad fish. Toad fish (croakers) were setting off underwater bombs, and scientists and the military wanted to know why.
Joy discovered that anatomy involved drawing, dissecting, learning and conveying information. She felt that science could be more creative than art. A scientist could ask any question and design the experiments. Anatomy was also very visual. It was a perfect career choice for Joy. As a teen, she had already been gutting fish, but didn’t realize people would pay her to look at guts. At that time she had no idea that anatomist was a career.
Joy was born in Connecticut and currently works in New York City. She considers herself a Nor’easter as she has only lived in three states –New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. However, she has visited Monterey Bay on multiple occasions and been enthralled by her experiences there.
Joy initially came to Monterey Bay in 1989, the first time she attended a marine mammal conference as a pregnant faculty member.
Educating the public outside of the academic setting seems to be a specialty of Joy’s. In addition to Big Blue Live, she has appeared as a regular on “Inside Nature’s Giants” dissecting a variety of animals including a fin whale, sperm whale, elephant, camel, giant squid, great white shark, and leatherback sea turtle, and she starred in four episodes of PBS’s “Sex in the Wild”. Joy is an engaging speaker and has also presented at scientific conferences including the international Society for Marine Mammalogy and the American Cetacean Society.
