Paul Ponganis is a Research Marine Biologist and Marine Physiologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. A leading expert in the field and also an anaesthesiologist, his primary clinical interests are in cardiac anaesthesia, which he has practised for the last thirty years in conjunction with his research at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. His research has focused on the diving physiology of marine mammals and penguins at field sites around the world. In recognition of their Antarctic research, the Ponganis Icefall on Coulman Island was named after him and his wife.