Francesca Rotondo

Dr. Francesca Rotondo currently serves as Director of the C. Wayne Ellett Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic in the Department of Plant Pathology at The Ohio State University, College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences in Wooster, OH. She is also actively involved in the interactions with many groups of stakeholders (growers, arborists, green industry, extension educators, and master gardeners) through participating as guest lectures in workshops and extension events.

In the Department of Plant pathology, she lectured several diagnostic courses: Laboratory Molecular Techniques, Advanced Techniques in Molecular Diagnostics and Vegetable Diseases in Controlled Environments. Prior to her current position, she worked in the Vegetable Pathology laboratory coordinating the diagnostic program and carrying out research projects focused on bacterial and fungal diseases of vegetable crops and their management. She received her degrees from the University of Bologna, Italy (B.Sc. in Biology, M.S. in Environmental Ecology, and Ph.D. in Plant Pathology.