Caitilyn Allen is the Ethel and O.N. Allen Professor Emeritus of Phytobacteriology in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, contributing prominently to Agricultural and Veterinary Science. She earned a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1987 and a B.S. in Botany from the University of Maine at Orono in 1981. After postdoctoral research at the CNRS Laboratoire de Génétique Moléculaire Microbienne in Lyon, France, from 1986 to 1988, and as an Assistant Scientist at UW-Madison from 1988 to 1992, Allen joined the faculty as Assistant Professor in 1992, advancing to Associate Professor and then Full Professor. She served as Department Chair from 2011 to 2014 and assumed the endowed Ethyl and O.N. Allen Chair in 2014. Allen founded the Women in Science and Engineering Residential Learning Community (WISE Dorm) in 1995, directing it until 2000, and led the UW-Madison Women Faculty Mentoring Program from 2010 to 2016, mentoring 28 women graduate students and postdocs. She has taught courses in plant pathology, microbiology, and gender and women's studies, earning recognition for excellence in education.

Allen's research centers on the biology of plant pathogenic bacteria, with a focus on Ralstonia solanacearum, the soilborne pathogen causing bacterial wilt in tropical and warm temperate crops such as tomato, potato, banana, and geranium. Her lab examines pathogen-host interactions in planta, including metabolic adaptations for growth in nutrient-poor, microaerobic xylem using inorganic nitrogen for energy, defense sensing, and virulence; intrastrain competition via bacteriocins; extracellular DNases (NucA and NucB) that degrade plant extracellular traps and enhance virulence; and degradation of plant salicylic acid to evade defenses. She co-edited Bacterial Wilt: The Disease and the Ralstonia solanacearum Species Complex (APS Press, 2005), Biology of Plant-Microbe Interactions, Vol. 3 (2002), and Bacterial Wilt Disease: Molecular and Ecological Aspects (1998). Notable publications include 'How Ralstonia solanacearum manipulates and exploits the flowing plant xylem environment' (Trends in Microbiology, 2018), 'Escaping underground nets: extracellular DNases degrade plant extracellular traps' (PLoS Pathogens, 2016), and 'Degradation of the plant defense signal salicylic acid protects Ralstonia solanacearum' (mBio, 2016). Allen's impact is evidenced by awards such as the 2020 American Society for Microbiology Alice C. Evans Award for Advancement of Women, American Phytopathological Society Fellowship (2013), American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellowship (2009), Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor (2017), and APS National Award for Excellence in Teaching (2005). She has served as Senior Editor for APS Press (2009-2016), Associate Editor for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (1997-2001) and Molecular Plant Pathology (1999-2006), Editorial Board member for Frontiers in Plant Science (2011-present), and on APS committees including Bacteriology and Agricultural Bioterrorism.

Professional Email: callen@wisc.edu