diff --git a/rec_to_nwb/processing/metadata/metadata_extractor.py b/rec_to_nwb/processing/metadata/metadata_extractor.py
index 4dcea3b8..d1e78230 100644
--- a/rec_to_nwb/processing/metadata/metadata_extractor.py
+++ b/rec_to_nwb/processing/metadata/metadata_extractor.py
@@ -4,11 +4,15 @@
 
 
 class MetadataExtractor:
-
     @staticmethod
     def extract_metadata(metadata_path):
-        with open(metadata_path, 'r') as stream:
-            return json.loads(
-                json.dumps(yaml.safe_load(stream)),
-                parse_int=str,
-                parse_float=str)
+        with open(metadata_path, "r") as stream:
+            yaml_dict = yaml.safe_load(stream)
+
+            # yaml automatically converts date_of_birth to a datetime object, need to convert back
+            yaml_dict["subject"]["date_of_birth"] = yaml_dict["subject"][
+                "date_of_birth"
+            ].strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%fZ")
+
+            # for some reason they want to convert all ints, float to strings
+            return json.loads(json.dumps(yaml_dict), parse_int=str, parse_float=str)