Dr. Betsy Dresser

(http://www.wildaboutpets.net/info/innewsdetail.asp?nid=25&ID=1193)

Is there such thing as a person who was recently voted North American Women of the Year and saves entire species from extinction? Her name is Dr. Betsy Dresser, the current Vice President of Research and Facility Director for the Audubon Center for Endangered Species, Freeport-McMoRan Audubon Species Survival Center and Audubon Wilderness Park.

Betsy showed an interest in animals from a young age. She worked at the local zoo throughout high school. After her mother died, when Betsy was only twelve, she was constantly moving locations because her father was in the Navy. Her father wasn’t able to care for her and her younger brother, Mark. They were sent to several foster homes before they finally ended up living with their grandparents, Gertrude and Clarence Kruse in Cincinnati, Ohio. She graduated from high school in 1968, thinking that now she would be free to go where she wanted to go. But, what she didn’t see coming was the long road of challenges that lay ahead.

During this time, Betsy was continually dissuaded away from her dream with people saying that her desired field jobs were scarce and dominated by men, but she pressed on, now more determined than ever to achieve her dream. Betsy’s grandparents saw her desire for more education as a silly thing. They thought that her brother Mark should go to college and that she should become a secretary. After working for three years at Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, she followed her dream and went to college. She spent two years at the University of Cincinnati and spent the rest of her college career at Ohio State University, receiving her B.S., M.S., and PhD in Animal Reproductive Physiology in the process.

All of her hard work paid off in 1979, but she found jobs were scarce. Determined to work, she tried to persuade the Cincinnati Zoo to start and animal research program. However, the zoo turned her down due to lack of funding and because zoos did not usually do animal research

It wasn’t until 1981, when she and of her colleagues convinced former zoo board president Carson Whiting to fund a research department at the zoo. And, after several years of working there, she was convinced to come and take her current position at the Audubon Research Facility.

Betsy Dresser has clearly had a challenging life. But, despite all of that, the reason that I think she is so amazing is because of the huge difference that she is making in peoples’ and animals’ lives. Without her, many species might be facing extreme endangerment if not worse. I believe that Dr. Dresser has done more than her part to make the world a better place for people and animals alike. For this reason, and many more, Dr. Betsy Dresser is my hero.