María José Ganoza graduated as a Bachelor of Science majoring in Biology from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia. María José has assisted fieldwork on population health assessments of otariids since 2010 at Punta San Juan and has worked as volunteer coordinator for the sustainable guano harvest held in Punta San Juan in 2012. María José is interested in investigating the foraging ecology and behavior of maternal care of resident species of pinnipeds in Peru, the South American fur seal and the South American sea lion, and understand how they adapt to the variability of the marine environment that affects the distribution and availability of their prey.