Phyllis Himmel – VP of Biological Research
Phyllis joins MBI after 19 years in the vegetable seed industry. She has a Ph. D in plant pathology from the University of Arizona where she studied latent infections caused by Macrophomina phaseolina under Robert L. Gilbertson. She specialized in viral disease resistance in studies of soil borne wheat mosaic virus in soft red winter wheat during a 3 year USDA Post Doc based at the University of Illinois in collaboration with Anna Hewings and Dean Glawe. Phyllis started her agricultural career as a scientist at Asgrow Seed Company developing and running programs to identify viral disease resistance in vegetables. After 8 years, she was promoted to lead the global team of 64 scientists and staff. The team developed and delivered vegetables varieties resistant to nematodes, fungal, bacterial and viral diseases on a research and commercial scale. In collaboration with her team and the breeding programs, new strategies for disease resistance were developed using state of the art techniques that supported company goals and market opportunities. She led the global team for the next 11 years as Asgrow became Seminis and then Monsanto Vegetable Seeds. At MBI, Phyllis leads the teams in plant pathology, entomology, nematology and herbicides who test the efficacy of new products.