This event will feature presentations by Katherine Kahn (Gates Foundation, USA) and  Justin Pita (Director of WAVE, Côte d’Ivoire), covering:

• Global wheat protection strategies
• The WAVE initiative and its impact on cassava virus outbreaks in West and Central Africa

We’ll wrap up with a dynamic panel discussion and Q&A, where you’ll have the chance to engage directly with these experts. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to learn, connect, and contribute!

📅 Tuesday, 19th November 2024
⏰ 16:00 PM CET | 15:00 PM BST | 10:00 AM EST

Register here: https://cassyni.com/events/C5fPXgPTDooeu4J9yy6ggd

The event will also be recorded, so even if you are unable to attend live, you'll still be able to watch the recording which will be circulated to those who have signed up.  

Abstract: In this webinar, our speakers, will highlight how advancements in plant pathology and epidemiology can contribute to achieving SDG 1: No Poverty, by presenting on wheat protection globally and the WAVE initiative focused on cassava viruses. The WAVE Regional Center of Excellence is a scientific and technical platform that aims to increase food production in Central and West Africa, in a sustainable manner, by developing effective methods for the control and management of transboundary plant pathogens, as well as preventing the incursion of exotic plant diseases into new areas. We aim to inspire others to join the research for more sustainable and resilient crop production. The presentations will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A session.

Speakers

Dr Katherine Kahn is a Senior Program Officer in Agricultural Development for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Kathy joined the Foundation in 2007 and manages grants focused on crop improvement and discovery research addressing the needs of small holder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Kathy trained as a plant biologist, with graduate and post-doctoral research in plant molecular biology including light-harvesting and signal transduction in cyanobacteria, pathways to achieve broad-spectrum disease resistance in plants, and engineering virus resistance in cassava. She was awarded a Diplomacy Fellowship in 2004 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and served with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service for three years as an advisor for international agricultural biotechnology prior to joining the Foundation. 

Prof Justin Pita is the Executive Director of the Regional Center of Excellence for transboundary plant pathogens, Central and West African Virus Epidemiology (WAVE). He is an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology in the College of Agricultural Sciences of the Pennsylvania State University (USA) and an Associate Professor (Maître de conferences) at Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny (Côte d’Ivoire). Justin Pita also serves as a member of the Steering Committee of African Women in Agriculture Research and Development (AWARD), a gender-responsive agricultural innovation program working toward agriculture-driven prosperity for Africa, by investing in African women scientists and agricultural research institutions to deliver gender-responsive agricultural research and development. Professor Justin Pita has over 20 years’ experience conducting research on viral disease epidemiology and virus evolution at highly regarded institutions including, The Scripps Research Institute (San Diego, California, USA), The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (St-Louis, Missouri, USA), The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, Georgia, USA/Field Station of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire), The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation (Ardmore, Oklahoma, USA), and the Huck Institute of The Life Sciences (Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Pennsylvania State University, USA). Driven by his strong Pan-African commitment to agricultural research and equipped with a vast experience in senior leadership both on the African continent and globally, Prof. Pita has built a strong global agricultural research network involving several institutions from East, West and Central Africa, Europe, and America for a successful implementation of the WAVE work for food security for all in Africa. He has raised more than sixteen billion CFA francs to implement WAVE. Under his leadership, the WAVE network has expanded from 7 to 10 countries, all of which have developed and endorsed national response plans against cassava viral diseases. WAVE has become an ECOWAS Regional Center of Excellence (RCE-WAVE) for transboundary plant pathogens inaugurated in May 2021. WAVE works closely with CORAF, ECCAS and the governments of ten Central and West African countries (Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, and DRC).

We look forward to seeing you on the 19th of November.