Hillary Maddin

Maddin obtained her B.Sc. in biology from the University of Toronto (1999-2004). She went on to also complete her M.Sc. degree at the University of Toronto (2004-2006) researching caseid synapsids under the supervision of Robert Reisz, followed by a Ph.D. degree (2006-2011) exploring the morphology and evolution of caecilians at the University of Calgary under the supervision of Anthony Russell and Jason Anderson.

Maddin was awarded the highly competitive NSERC postdoctoral fellowship,^[1][2] which she used to fund a position at the Museum of Comparative Zoology and Harvard University in Cambridge, MA (2011-2013), where she was supervised by Jim Hanken and was subsequently awarded the prestigious Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship,^[3][4] which she used to fund a position at Carleton University in Ottawa, ON (2013-2015), where she was supervised by Claudia Schröder-Adams. Since then, she has held her current position as a faculty member at Carleton.

Maddin's research encompasses a wide range of topics, primarily related to developmental biology using amphibians as a model system and exploration of morphological and phylogenetic patterns of Paleozoic tetrapods. She has published on a variety of groups, including a variety of synapsids,^{[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]} temnospondyls,^[12][13][14] and lepospondyls.^{[15][16][17][18]} Much of her research in this area is directed towards anatomy of the braincase and other internal structures,^[19][20][21] which extends to her work on extant amphibians, primarily examining caecilians.^{[22][23][24][25][26][27]} She has also published several studies on the African clawed frog and the axolotl, both a model study system.^{[28][29][30][31]} Her research has been published in leading scientific journals, including Biological Reviews, Nature Communications, and Nature Ecology & Evolution. Maddin has contributed to the naming of several new extinct taxa, outlined below:

Maddin has received numerous federal- or provincial-level grant awards to fund her research, including an Early Researcher Award (ERA) from the Ontario provincial government ($100,000 CAD),^[35] a New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) award from the Canadian federal government ($250,000 CAD),^[36][37] and an NSERC Discovery Grant ($40,000 CAD),^[38] and her lab's research has been covered by leading news outlets.^[39][40][41] She also serves as one of three managing editors for the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.^[42]