Colin K. Khoury

Colin K. Khoury has a diverse work experience in the field of science and conservation. Colin K. is currently serving as the Senior Director of Science and Conservation at the San Diego Botanic Garden since August 2021. Prior to this, they worked at CIAT (Center for International Tropical Agriculture) for nearly a decade. During their tenure at CIAT, they held multiple roles, including Visiting Researcher, Research Scientist/Crop Diversity Specialist, and conducted analysis of the distributions and conservation status of wild relatives of major agricultural crops. Colin K. also worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Saint Louis University from September 2019 to August 2021. Additionally, they served as a Research Geneticist Plants at USDA Agricultural Research Service, National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation from November 2015 to November 2019. Furthermore, they worked as a Scientific Associate at the Global Crop Diversity Trust, where they contributed to technical analyses and coordination of global crop and regional conservation strategies for the "Global system project" funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Colin K. also played a significant role in the "Adapting agriculture to climate change: Collecting, protecting, and preparing crop wild relatives" project. In the early stages of their career, they worked as an Environmental Planner/Biologist at Dudek and as a Crop Curator at Native Seeds/SEARCH, where they managed genebank conservation activities and farm operations for regeneration of genebank collections.

Colin K. Khoury completed their Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Environmental Studies/Agroecology from Prescott College between the years 1998 and 2000. Following this, they pursued a Master of Science (MSc.) in Conservation and Utilisation of Plant Genetic Resources at the University of Birmingham from 2006 to 2007. Finally, they obtained their Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Production Ecology and Resource Conservation from Wageningen University & Research, where they studied from 2010 to 2015.