David Cannatella is the Department Chair of Integrative Biology and a professor for the College of Natural Sciences. Systematics, His areas of expertise are phylogenomics, evolution of amphibians and reptiles. He is also Associate Director of the UT Biodiversity Center.

He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette. His Master's and PhD degrees are from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas and was advised by William E Duellman and Linda Trueb. KU is a well-known center for study of the systematics of amphibians and reptiles.

Following this he conducted research in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley, under the mentorship of David Wake and Marvalee Wake. Berkeley is a top-notch institution and also leader in studies on amphibian and reptile biology.

His first faculty position was at Louisana State University in the Museum of Natural Sciences, where he was also the Curator of Amphibians. Following this he moved to the University of Texas in 1990, first as a research Curator and then later as tenured faculty.