Martha Malapi joined ASTA in August 2023 as the Director of Seed Health and Trade. Prior to ASTA, Martha served at the USDA for nine years in different roles, including as a Branch Chief of APHIS Biotechnology Regulatory Services, where she worked on assessing potential plant pest risk and environmental impacts of genetically engineered microbes on the human environment. Before that role, she served as the Lead Plant Pathologist and Program Manager of APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine – Plant Germplasm Quarantine Program, where she implemented the genomics program for the identification of quarantine pathogens. Martha completed her postdoctoral specialization at USDA-ARS, where she used different genomics and bioinformatics tools to study novel and emergent pathogens.

Martha is originally from Lima, Peru, but now calls Washington, DC, home. She holds a M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from the University of Tennessee and Texas A&M University.