Giovanna Romero

Giovanna was born in Quito, Ecuador.  She obtained a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the Universidad Católica del Ecuador.  As a biologist, one of her dreams was to work in the Galápagos Islands.  She began working as a naturalist guide in Galápagos in 1994.  During that time, she became fascinated by the uniqueness and diversity of Galápagos plants.

Her interest in plants was so strong that she decided to interrupt her guiding work in Galápagos to enter a graduate program in plant biology.  She entered the master’s program in plant biology at the University of Texas, Austin.  She obtained her master’s degree in 2006 and after graduation worked as a research assistant for the Texas Natural History Collection at the university.

Her studies and work in the U.S. were highly rewarding, but she always wanted to return to Ecuador to carry out research on the mainland and in the Galápagos Islands.  In 2007 she started working at the herbarium at the Universidad Católica del Ecuador and, at the same time, she resumed working as freelance guide in the Galápagos.  She is currently a research associate at the National Herbarium in Quito.