ROGER N. BEACHY, PH.D.
PRESIDENT
DONALD DANFORTH PLANT SCIENCE CENTER

Dr. Roger Beachy is the founding president of the not-for-profit Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri, a position he has held since January 1999. In this role, Dr. Beachy has been responsible for developing and implementing the Danforth Center's strategic direction, recruiting its staff, and formulating its research programs. Dr. Roger N. Beachy, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, is internationally known for his groundbreaking research on developing virus-resistant plants through biotechnology.

From 1991 to 1998, Dr. Beachy headed the Division of Plant Biology at The Scripps Research Institute, a leading biomedical research center in La Jolla, California. He was also Professor and Scripps Family Chair in Cell Biology and co-director of the International Laboratory for Tropical Agricultural Biotechnology (ILTAB) at Scripps.

Dr. Beachy was a member of the Biology Department at Washington University in St. Louis from 1978 to 1991, where he was Professor and Director of the Center for Plant Science and Biotechnology. His work at Washington University, in collaboration with Monsanto Company, led to the development of the world's first genetically modified food crop, a variety of tomato that was modified for resistance to virus disease. His technique to produce virus resistance in tomatoes has been replicated by researchers around the world to produce many types of plants with resistance to a number of different virus diseases.

Research under Dr. Beachy's direction has led to a number of patent applications. He has edited or contributed to 50 book articles, and his work has produced more than 220 journal publications.

Dr. Beachy has received a number of honors for his research. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and in 2001 received the Wolf Prize in Agriculture. He is a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Microbiology, and the Academy of Science of St. Louis. In 2003, he was elected Councilor for the National Academy of Sciences and currently serves as a member of the editorial board of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr Beachy was awarded the Dennis Robert Hoagland Award from the American Society of Plant Biologists, an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Michigan State University, and the William D. Phillips Technology Advancement Award from the St. Louis County Economic Council. Dr. Beachy was named R&D Magazine's Scientist of the Year for 1999. In 1995, the San Diego Press Club recognized him with a Headliner of the Year Award. He was the 1991 recipient of the Bank of Delaware's Commonwealth Award for Science and Industry and the 1990 recipient of the American Phytopathological Society's Ruth Allen Award.

Dr. Beachy serves on numerous boards and committees, including the board of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics in Hyderabad, India, and the board of the NIDUS Center for Scientific Enterprise, and other voluntary boards in the St. Louis region. He is a member of a number of scientific societies, including the American Society of Plant Biologists, American Phytopathological Society, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and American Society for Virology. He has served as consultant in plant biotechnology for a several companies and frequently lectures on the applications of biotechnology in agriculture, nutrition, and human health.

Dr. Beachy holds a Ph.D. in plant pathology from Michigan State University and earned a B.A. in biology from Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana.