Meet The Team: Dr. Juli D Goldstein

Dr. Juli Goldstein has two decades of experience working with marine mammals and is a distinguished alumnus of Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine. With a diverse background in marine mammal medicine and welfare, Dr. Goldstein serves the global conservation community offering services an experienced clinician, author, and consultant.

Dr. Goldstein first embarked on a career working with marine mammals at the renowned Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in 2003, where she assumed the dual position of director of veterinary services for the institute’s Marine Mammal Research and Conservation program and member of the research faculty at Florida Atlantic University. During her decade of service to both the Institute and University, she provided veterinary supervision and served as co-lead veterinarian and medical manager for seventeen dolphin health and environmental risk assessments (HERA), involving the safe capture, sampling, and release of more than four hundred individual dolphins. Further, in her decade of service to the Oceanographic Institute, she served as lead veterinarian on 30+ open-water capture-release interventions, responded to more than two hundred stranded cetaceans, conducted necropsies and mentored dozens of interns, master’s students, post-docs, as well as aspiring veterinarians from around the world.

Dr. Goldstein has lectured nationally and internationally and has published her research findings in several noted peer-reviewed journals and technical reports. Dr. Juli has also served as attending veterinarian for the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute of Florida, Cleveland Clinic and for the Smithsonian Field Station (FL), where she gained invaluable experience in virology and applied aquatic medicine.

Globally, she has consulted on conservation projects in Turkey, China, Norway, and Thailand. For her many accomplishments and service to others, Dr. Goldstein has received numerous awards and recognition from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA Fisheries, the Humane Society and Born Free Foundation. In 2014, Auburn University awarded her the most prestigious Alumni Achievement Award and Ohio State University named her The Shell Foundations Distinguished Woman Lecturer of the Year. In the same year, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) recognized her as their Animal Defender of the Year. Many of her exploits and rescues have been featured on nationally syndicated documentaries and feature films. As one of the veterinarians for the dolphin “Winter” she was featured in the Warner Brothers film “Dolphin Tale” and appears as herself in the sequel “Dolphin Tale 2”, re-enacting her real-life rescue of the dolphin Hope.

Today, Dr. Juli, continues to work to raise awareness about animal and environmental conservation issues, fostering enthusiasm for wildlife in today’s younger generations, while serving on the front lines of the Florida Keys stranding network.