Erica Kistner-Thomas, Ph.D.

Dr. Kistner-Thomas is a National Program Leader in the Institute of Food Production and Sustainability’s Division of Plant Systems – Protection. She provides national leadership for NIFA’s research and extension programs covering beneficial species that provide biological control and pollination services in agricultural production systems. Before joining NIFA, Dr. Kistner-Thomas worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California - Riverside, where she worked on evaluating and improving biological control tactics against the Asian citrus psyllid, the insect vector of the deadly citrus disease Huanglongbing or citrus greening disease. She received a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Notre Dame where studied grasshopper pest population dynamics in western Montana.