Emily E. D. Coffey, Ph.D.
Dr. Emily E. D. Coffey is Vice President of Conservation & Research at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Dr. Coffey joined the Garden in 2017 where she leads and collaborates with a team of conservation scientists and specialized horticulturists to expand conservation research activities, propagating and growing rare plants, and developing conservation initiatives for plants and ecosystems. She holds a DPhil in Geography from the University of Oxford, where her doctoral research focused on determining baseline ecological conditions in the humid highlands of the Santa Cruz Islands, Ecuador. She also earned an MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation, and Management (with Distinction) from Oxford, with a thesis examining the short-term impacts of recreational trampling on limestone glade vegetation in southeastern Missouri. Her undergraduate studies were completed at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, where she graduated cum laude with a BS in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. Additionally, she holds a Certificate in Conservation Biology. She conducted her Post-Doctoral work at the University of Oxford in the Biodiversity Institute. Before joining ABG, she was a Biology faculty member at the University of North Carolina Asheville.
Dr. Coffey has broad botanical knowledge and experience with ex situ and in situ conservation, restoration ecology, community ecology, and biogeography. She is familiar with ecological processes and flora of many geographical settings including Appalachian Mountain Fens/Bogs, Carolina Bay region, Missouri sandstone glades, Canary Island laurel forests, and Galápagos Islands. In the latter, she examined ecological baseline conditions for the humid highlands of Santa Cruz Island in order to distinguish temporal vegetation transitions, identify potential drivers of the transitions, and evaluate their importance for conservation and management practices. Findings from her research have been published in numerous journals including Science, Ecology, and Journal of Biogeography. Research conducted at UNCA included identifying historical fire regime patterns across the Appalachian Mountain bog/fen habitats aimed at providing land managers a framework for restoring fire as an ecological process. Additionally, current appointments include Research Professor at the University of North Carolina - Asheville and Adjunct Assistant Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, and Emory University, Atlanta.
A collaborative and strategic leader, Dr. Coffey co-founded the Southeastern Plant Conservation Alliance and holds key roles in national and international conservation organizations. She serves on the Board of Directors for Botanic Gardens Conservation International (U.S.) and is a Conservation Officer for the Center for Plant Conservation. Additionally, she chairs the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Ex Situ Orchid Specialist Group and provides leadership on numerous advisory committees for plant conservation.