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Dr Deanne Drake is a researcher in the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand. Drake joined Wits in 2012 as an aquatic ecologist in APES. Her interest in wild salmon hails from her American roots. She grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, but moved to the West Coast of the United States for her postgraduate work at the University of Washington in Seattle.

She holds the following degrees: BSc (Biology) from the University of Minnesota, USA; MSC and PhD (Aquatic and Fishery Sciences) from the University of Washington, USA).

She examined the effects of trout introductions on the ecology of alpine lakes at the Mt. Rainier National Park for her MSc. She then worked as a fishery biologist at the US Western Fishery Research Centre, conducting research on Chinook salmon and Steelhead trout in the Columbia River System - this complex field-based project examined the genetic and behavioural effects of hatchery salmon on wild salmon populations.

Returning to the University of Washington for her PhD work, she used fishery records and patterns in the tree-ring growth of giant streamside trees to reconstruct Pacific salmon populations in streams over 300 years old - a period during which wild Pacific salmon underwent massive decline.

It is during this time in the Pacific Northwest she developed a strong attachment to and respect for salmon.