Costanza Manes is currently a Ph.D. student at the Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Department at the University of Florida. She earned her undergraduate degree in Zoology at the Queen Mary University of London and her master’s degree in Conservation Science at Imperial College London. She has received numerous awards throughout her education, such as the “2017 Fogg Prize for Outstanding Academic Achievement” and the National Save the Sea Turtle Foundation Scholarship to students investigating fibropapillomatosis. This is the focus of Costanza’s research. Her current doctoral project focuses on environmental drivers of fibropapillomatosis, integrating the role of marine pollution in disease outbreaks as well as investigating tumor viral load and dynamics.