Professor Brenda D. Wingfield is an internationally recognised leader in forest pathology, fungal genomics, and evolutionary biology. She holds the DSTI-NRF South African Research Chair in Fungal Genomics at the University of Pretoria. Her research focuses on the genomics, evolution, and biology of fungal pathogens affecting forest and plantation trees, contributing to improved forest health, strengthened biosecurity, and sustainable forestry worldwide. Throughout her distinguished career, Prof Wingfield has published extensively in leading international journals, supervised and mentored numerous postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and played a pivotal role in establishing South Africa as a global centre of excellence in fungal genomics and forest pathology.

She is a Fellow of the Academy of Science of South Africa, The World Academy of Sciences, the American Phytopathological Society, the American Society for Microbiology, and the Royal Society of South Africa. She has received numerous national and international awards recognising her research excellence, scientific leadership, and contributions to fungal genomics and forest pathology.