Tammy Wilbert is a research associate at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute's Center for Conservation Genomics. Wilbert is interested in addressing basic and applied questions regarding wild threatened and endangered species. She is broadly enthusiastic about the use of data to understand species biology, behavior, and evolutionary histories, as well as inform habitat management and policy decisions. Wilbert has also shared her passion for conservation science through teaching and outreach activities to people of all ages and backgrounds.

Together with colleagues, Wilbert's research has focused on using non-invasively collected samples to study the endangered San Joaquin kit fox, identifying remaining populations, population connectivity, immune system diversity, impacts of land use change, and the changes in behavior and genetic diversity from urbanization. She has also worked on other projects studying the immune system diversity or population genomics of birds and mammals.

In addition to her research, in March 2024 Wilbert is joining the Recovery Planning Team in the Ecological Services Program at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters in Virginia, where she will be helping to create and evaluate recovery plans for endangered species. Wilbert also served as the AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the National Science Foundation, working in the Office of Emerging Frontiers and Multidisciplinary Activities in the Directorate of Engineering. She has consulted on endangered species considerations in land development and for STEM funding project management. She is also an adjunct faculty member at George Mason University, where she has taught about genetic methods, conservation, and natural resource management. 

Wilbert grew up in Pennsylvania and moved to Maryland where she attended the University of Maryland, Baltimore County for her Bachelors of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She then moved to the Washington, D.C. area and started exploring the world of conservation science during an internship at the Smithsonian in 2005. During her Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Public Policy at George Mason University, she began working at the Center for Conservation Genomics with Dr. Jesús Maldonado, and has continued her collaborations with CCG scientists ever since.