Rate My Professor Judith Brown

Judith Brown is a Regents Professor in the School of Plant Sciences at The University of Arizona, contributing significantly to Agricultural and Veterinary Science through her distinguished career in plant pathology and virology. She received a B.S. in Horticulture with a minor in Plant Pathology from Texas A&M University in 1979, an M.S. in Plant Pathology (Virology) from Washington State University in 1981, and a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology (Virology/Vector Biology) from The University of Arizona in 1984. Following a postdoctoral position at UA from 1985 to 1989, she advanced to Assistant Research Professor (1990-1998), Associate Research Professor (1998-1999), Associate Professor (1999-2004), Professor (2004-present), and Regents Professor (2020-present). She holds joint appointments in the BIO5 Institute, Department of Entomology, and directs the Plant Sciences Virus Diagnostic Laboratory since 1990. Brown teaches virology courses such as PLP/MIC 333 and 611, and mentors undergraduate honors students and international scholars.

Her research centers on emergent plant viral pathogens and phylodynamics at crop-wild host interfaces, functional genomics of virus-insect vector interactions (including begomoviruses transmitted by whiteflies Bemisia tabaci cryptic species, psyllids and Ca. Liberibacter species), dsRNA biopesticides, phytomicrobiome viruses, and molecular diagnostics. Conducted across more than 65 countries, her work supports global food security in crops like cotton, tomato, cacao, and cucurbits. Key publications include editing Vector-Plant Pathogen Interactions (APS Press, 2016), taxonomic revisions of geminiviruses (Varsani et al., Archives of Virology, 2013-2017), phylogeography of Bemisia tabaci (Brown et al., 2018-2023), infectious clones of cacao swollen shoot viruses (Brown et al., Frontiers in Agronomy, 2021), and Cotton leafroll dwarf virus studies (Brown, Plant Disease, 2021). Awards encompass Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society (2011), Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2015), UA College of Agriculture Research Faculty of the Year (2019), Regents Professor (2020), APS Excellence in International Service Award (2020), Wellman Award (APS-Caribbean Division, 2008), Fulbright Specialist (2017-2021), and USDA-NIFA Partnership Award (2010). She has chaired APS Virology Committee (2004), ICTV Geminivirus Study Group (2009-2014), and served as President of APS Caribbean Division (2021-2022).