San Diego Coastkeeper welcomes Dr. Jim Perry to board of directors

San Diego County CA— San Diego Coastkeeper announces the addition of Dr. Jim Perry, University of California San Diego professor of pediatrics and bioengineering, to its board of directors. Dr. Perry, a lifelong competitive swimmer, sailor, surfer and scuba diver and co-founder of two Surfrider Foundation chapters, is now bringing his love of water, medicine and science to empower the work of San Diego County’s water quality watchdog.
“When news broke that our federal environmental regulations were being dismantled in D.C., I started looking for what I could do to help protect our water here in San Diego,” says Dr. Perry. “I discovered San Diego Coastkeeper and found they were already entrenched in the work I knew was necessary but didn’t know was feasible: in-house water science combined with legal and policy work that gets major, measurable results.”
“We’re thrilled to have Dr. Perry join our Coastkeeper team,” says Matt O’Malley, executive director of San Diego Coastkeeper. “His passion and his experience in the public health and bioengineering arena will greatly complement our work to protect and restore our waters in San Diego County.”
In addition to his professorships at University of California San Diego, Dr. Perry is the director of the cardiac electrophysiology and adult congenital heart programs at Rady Children’s Hospital, holds medical device patents and has served as chief science officer for a biomedical device startup.
Dr. Perry has also worked at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Texas Children’s Hospital and Yale University, has published 100 peer-reviewed medical reports and lectures in the field of pediatric cardiac rhythm disorders internationally. He lives in Ocean Beach with his wife, Nicole, and their two dogs, Elvis and Milo.
San Diego Coastkeeper protects and restores fishable, swimmable and drinkable waters in San Diego County. For more information on San Diego Coastkeeper and its staff, board members and work in San Diego County, please visit www.sdcoastkeeper.org.