Johanna obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the Universidad de Chile in 2001 and continued her studies at the University to obtain her Postgraduate degree in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage. She recently completed the graduate certificate in Museum Collections Management and Care from George Washington University. Before graduating Johanna worked for a variety of museums and conservation laboratories in Chile, including the National Library in Santiago, where she conserved and restored books, maps, and documents from its vast collection of archival materials. Johanna also conducted preventive conservation of lithics, ceramics, and metals in the collection of pre-Columbian artifacts at the Archaeological Museum of Santiago, and the Maritime Museum in Valparaíso, where she initiated an assessment of metal artifacts. Her thesis research, which addressed conservation of marine artifacts, took her to Switzerland, where she participated in the conservation of metal artifacts from El San Diego, a Spanish galleon lost off the Philippines in 1600. Johanna joined the H.L.Hunley Submarine Project in Charleston, SC in 2005. She assisted during the phase 4 of the excavation of artifacts and her work has included the conservation and treatment of marine archaeological artifacts associated with the H.L. Hunley; she’s the manager of the Hunley's collection as well as being responsible for the upkeep of the storage rooms and performs preventive conservation. She’s also in charge of photography and cataloging of artifacts. She’s currently conducting the de-concretion of the submarine's hull. Starting in November of 2015 Johanna took over as the new Radiation Safety Officer for the Lash Lab. She has also worked as a conservation consultant for several other projects performing tasks as a trainer in preventive conservation and assessor of collections. These projects have included Drayton Hall’s metal collection; South Adgers Wharf excavation project in downtown Charleston conserving their waterlogged materials; Peru conducting preventive conservation, packaging, storage of metals, textiles and a chimu-Inca mummy from the site “El Purgatorio” in Casma; among others.