Our Team

Jeffrey F. D. Dean is Assistant Provost & Campus Director and Professor of Plant Pathology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia campus in Griffin, GA. Dr. Dean received B.S. degrees in Biology and Chemistry 1980 from Stanford University and in those years worked for the late Dr. Bruce A. D. Stocker in the Department of Medical Microbiology on development of attenuated vaccines against Salmonella. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Purdue University 1986, where he worked with Dr. Klaus M. Herrmann on the involvement of DAHP synthases in aromatic amino acid biosynthesis in plants. Prior to joining the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UGA in Athens in 1990 as a Research Scientist, Dr. Dean pursued postdoctoral studies at the USDA-ARS Beltsville Area Research Center (BARC) with Dr. James D. Anderson investigating the mechanism whereby certain fungal xylanases stimulate ethylene biosynthesis in solanaceous plants. For his first few years at UGA, Dr. Dean worked with Dr. Karl-Erik Eriksson, UGA’s first Eminent Scholar, on the characterization and development of microbial enzyme systems to address biotechnological processes in the pulp and paper industry. In 1996, Dr. Dean moved to a tenure-track position in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at UGA where he developed an internationally recognized research program using cutting-edge genomic approaches to understand the impact of biotic and abiotic stresses on wood formation and quality in loblolly pine. During his time at UGA Athens, Dr. Dean also served as Director of the UGA Plant Center and was a founding member of the UGA Institute of Bioinformatics, an organization for which he variously served as Graduate Coordinator, Associate Director, and Acting Director.