Altus Viljoen

Altus Viljoen is professor in Plant Pathology at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. His research involves protecting agricultural crops against Fusarium pathogens by using an integrated disease management strategy. Viljoen has trained more than 50 MSc and PhD students and authored / co-authored 140 peer-reviewed scientific papers and 14 books / book chapters. He coordinates an African consortium dealing with Fusarium wilt TR4, and his group serves as the FAO’s Centre of Excellence in banana Fusarium wilt TR4 in Africa. Prof Viljoen has organised several international scientific meetings and workshops, conducted training on banana Fusarium wilt globally, and acted as keynote speaker at numerous international conferences. In 2014, he was selected a Chinese National Foreigner Expert, and in 2015 as a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences. He served as Honorary Research Fellow at Bioversity International from 2018-2020 and has helped establishing a Global Foc TR4 Program with the FAO.