Ana is from Medellin, Colombia. She has a BSc in forest engineering with a major and graduate diploma course in environmental management.

Ana worked for 8 years at the regional governmental corporation for environmental management and conservation (CORANTIOQUIA-Medellin, Colombia), which is an agency that administers biodiversity, forest conservation and animal wild life projects. In addition, she worked for 5 years in the Molecular Systematics Lab at the National University of Colombia, where she performed as a lab manager and technician. She came Urbana in 2011 because her husband was working on his PhD, and worked as our lab manager until 2014.