She is known for environmental activism, such as fighting to protect Varadero Reef, and her research on the ecology and evolution of symbiosis by studying the relationships between cnidarian, endosymbiotic dinoflagellates, and other microbes.
[1] She was a post-doctoral fellow at the Marine Biological Laboratory under Mitchell Sogin during which time she explored the phylogeny and cellular complexity of fungi and metazoans.
[2] Medina was a research scientist at the Joint Genome Institute from 2001-2005 and founding faculty member as assistant professor at the University of California, Merced.
Dr. Medina was a part of the team that produced the nature documentary, Saving Atlantis, which has been shown across the world in several languages.
[11] She has promoted underrepresented minorities in STEM through her involvement with activities including the Committee on Equity and Diversity, and in training students, such as National Science Foundation INCLUDES initiatives,[12] the Bridge to PhD for bringing Master's students from University of the Virgin Islands to Penn State.