Pamela Ronald sitting on chair next to plants and art.
Pamela Ronald becomes the first woman whose work is recognized with the GCHERA World Agriculture Prize. (UC Davis)

Plant Pathologist Pamela Ronald Named GCHERA World Agriculture Prize Laureate

By Amy Quinton, UC Davis News 

"Pamela Ronald, distinguished professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of California, Davis, and with the UC Davis Genome Center, has been named a 2020 World Agriculture Prize laureate by the Global Confederation of Higher Education Associations for Agricultural and Life Sciences, or GCHERA. She becomes the first woman whose work is recognized by the award.

“This award is a really special honor and I’m very grateful,” said Ronald. “I’m happy to be part of a global community of agricultural scientists that has been able to make a huge difference in the lives of farmers.”

The award ceremony will be virtually held at 5 p.m. on Nov. 30 from Nanjing Agricultural University, Jiangsu Province, China. GCHERA also jointly named Professor Zhang Fusuo of China Agricultural University a laureate this year.

Ronald is recognized for her history of major discoveries in plant molecular genetics. In 1995, she isolated a key immune receptor that revealed a new mechanism with which plants and animals detect and respond to infection. Her discovery in 2006, with UC Davis plant scientist David Mackill, of a rice submergence tolerance gene facilitated the development of high-yielding, flood-tolerant rice varieties that have benefited millions of farmers in South and Southeast Asia.

Ronald also directs the Institute for Food and Agricultural Literacy at UC Davis, which she established to provide the next generation of scientists with the training, support, and tools they need to become effective communicators and infuse scientifically sound information into the public discourse." 

Read the full story the UC Davis News website

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