Leah McIntosh is the Acting Executive Director for the Harvard Museum of Natural History.

Ms. McIntosh opens the panel by introducing the Harvard Museum of Natural History, which is "the public face of the natural history museums at Harvard University." The museum's goal is "to convey to the public the research of Harvard's faculty," she explains, and this panel presents a wonderful opportunity to do that. The museum is lucky to have the support of its three parent museums (the Museum of Comparative Zoology, the Botanical Museum, and the Mineralogical and Geological Museum) and Steven Hyman, Harvard's Provost since 2001. Provost Hyman is a professor of neurobiology at the Harvard Medical School, and his research focuses on the intersection among neuroscience, biology, and psychology. Dr. Hyman's research is, Ms. McIntosh explains, particularly appropriate for this panel, which will explore "the intersections of science, and how that really affects a lot of the questions that come up as we consider species diversity from a range of different scientific perspectives."