Dr. Verónica Roman-Reyna is a plant microbiologist and pathologist interested in understanding basic and applied aspects to diseases that limit crop production. Roman-Reyna received her bachelor’s and master’s degree in biology from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia focusing on diseases from potato and cassava, which are staple crops for Colombian farmers. She completed her PhD in Plant Pathology from the Australian National University. Her dissertation focused on the physiology of wheat stripe rust, a serious plant disease for Australian wheat farmers. For his postdoctoral research, she worked at the International Rice Research Institute where she focused on defining beneficial and pathogenic microbes that affect rice production. Roman-Reyna is currently a postdoctoral fellow working with Dr. Jonathan M. Jacobs, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at Ohio State. Her research focuses on barley pathogenic bacterium, Xanthomonas translucens. She is studying host range and tissue-specificity of this important cereal pathogen.