Alejandro Olmedo-Velarde

Dr. Olmedo-Velarde is originally from Ecuador, where he received a BS in Biotechnology at Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE. After working with plant viruses in tropical and temperate crops in the diverse agricultural production of Hawaii and earning MS and PhD degrees in Tropical Plant Pathology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, he joined Cornell University as a postdoctoral researcher for 2 years. At Cornell, he acquired more experience on virus-host and virus-vector interactions, and vector biology. In the Fall of 2024, he joined the department as an Assistant Professor in Host-Virus interactions with an interest in viruses infecting both crops and agricultural pests. Dr. Olmedo-Velarde's program aims to provide innovative management approaches for plant virus diseases and arthropod pests by dissecting and exploiting intricate multi-trophic interactions in vector-borne diseases in corn, soybean, grapevine, and other crops.