Lindsey du Toit, chair of the department of plant pathology at Washington State University, recently received the Christiaan Hendrick Persoon Medal from the Southern African Society for Plant Pathology. The award, which recognizes outstanding global contributions to the field, is the society’s highest honor.
A Washington State faculty member for nearly three decades, Dr. du Toit studies the biology and epidemiology of plant diseases. She frequently collaborates with researchers, seed growers, seed companies, and vegetable breeders in the Pacific Northwest, Chile, South Africa, New Zealand, Denmark, and France. Her work includes finding traits of disease resistance to breed into new varieties, resulting in vegetables that maintain the taste characteristics consumers desire while decreasing the likelihood the plants will succumb to pathogens.
Dr. du Toit is a graduate of the University of Natal-Pietermaritzburg in South Africa. She earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. in plant pathology at the University of Illinois.