The First Woman to Be Honored With the World Agriculture Prize

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. Professor Ronald is the first woman whose work has been recognized by this award.

Dr. Ronald is being 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.

“This award is a really special honor and I’m very grateful,” said Professor 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.”

Professor Ronald joined the faculty at the University of California, Davis in 1992. She is a graduate of Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where she majored in biology. Dr. Ronald holds a master’s degree in biology from Stanford University, a master’s degree in physiological botany from Uppsala University in Sweden, and a Ph.D. in molecular and physiological plant biology from the University of California, Berkeley.