José Ochoa was born in Cusco, Peru. He completed a B.Sc. in Biology at the Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco in 1996, and a Ph.D. at the Universidad Nacional de Cordoba (Argentina) in 2003. His Ph.D. dissertation reviewed the systematics and biogeography of the scorpions of southern Peru. Jose's research interests include the systematics of the Andean scorpion genera Orobothriurus (Bothriuridae) and Hadruroides (Iuridae). He moved to the Division of Invertebrate Zoology, AMNH, supported by a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in 2007. His postdoctoral research project is the first attempt to study the phylogeny of the Neotropical family Chactidae using morphological and genetic data. He has conducted many expeditions to collect scorpions in Peru (Andes, Amazonian and Pacific desert), Argentina, Chile and Bolivia.