Anna Whitfield

Anna E. Whitfield is the William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Entomology and Plant Pathology at North Carolina State University. She also serves as Director of the Chancellor’s Faculty Excellence Cluster in Emerging Plant Diseases and Global Food Security. Her research program is both innovative and transformative, focusing on the intersection of plant pathology, virology, and entomology. The long-term goal of her work is to develop biologically based strategies to control plant viruses and the insects that spread them. Her research explores how viruses interact with their insect vectors at the molecular level and aims to create new biotechnological tools to manage plant diseases and improve crop health.