Elizabeth fell in love with fungus when she inadvertently took a plant pathology course while studying biology at University of Toronto in the 1990s. She focused her studies on applied plant pathology in agriculture and obtained a Master’s degree from Michigan State University on control strategies of fungal disease (Fusarium) of celery. Throughout her graduate studies, she knew her interest was in extension and applied work and had a growing focus on diagnostic applications.

Her career began as the diagnostician for plant health for Oklahoma, where she identified the problems of all plants submitted to the state plant lab. She also provided all the Master Gardener training in plant diseases across the state. After 4 years, she decided to return to Canada where she worked as a plant disease diagnostician with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food in BC for 5 years. Once back in Canada, she got married (fungus wasn’t her only love!) and began a dance company with her husband, which continues to thrive today in Vancouver. She chose motherhood over fungus for the past 10 years but recently started working again in biocontrol research at Kwantlen University’s Institute for Sustainable Horticulture. She is passionate about everything she does from agriculture and plant pathology to child-rearing and dance.