Pamela Ronald

Pamela Ronald is a Distinguished Professor of Plant Pathology at the University of California, Davis, contributing to Agricultural and Veterinary Science through her pioneering research in plant genetics and pathology. She holds a B.A. in Biology from Reed College, an M.S. in Biology from Stanford University, an M.S. in Physiological Botany from Uppsala University, and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Physiological Plant Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. Following a postdoctoral fellowship in plant breeding at Cornell University, she joined the UC Davis faculty in 1992, advancing to her current distinguished position in the Department of Plant Pathology and the Genome Center. Ronald also serves as an Investigator at the Innovative Genomics Institute, Faculty Scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology division, Director of Grass Genetics at the Joint BioEnergy Institute, Faculty Affiliate of Stanford University’s Center on Food Security and the Environment, and founder of the UC Davis Interdisciplinary Forum for Science Learning.

Ronald’s research focuses on infectious disease biology and environmental stress tolerance in plants, with landmark discoveries including the isolation of the rice Xa21 immune receptor in 1995, which identified a novel infection detection mechanism shared by plants and animals, and a microbial immunogen in 2015. She led efforts to isolate the rice Submergence Tolerance 1 (Sub1) gene, facilitating flood-tolerant rice varieties cultivated by over six million subsistence farmers in India and Bangladesh. Her co-authored book, Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food (2008, with Raoul Adamchak), advocates for integrated sustainable agriculture approaches. Ronald’s impact is evidenced by her 2015 TED talk viewed by 1.7 million people. She has received prestigious honors, including the 2022 Wolf Prize in Agriculture, 2020 GCHERA World Agriculture Prize Laureate, election to the National Academy of Sciences (2019), American Academy of Arts and Sciences membership, VinFuture Prize for Women Innovators (2022), Louis Malassis International Scientific Prize, and American Society of Plant Biologists Leadership Award (2019).

Professional Email: pcronald@ucdavis.edu