Dr. Geitmann was appointed as the Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and Associate Vice-Principal (Macdonald Campus) of McGill University in 2015. She represents and promotes the interests of the Faculty in the dialogue with other academic institutions, the provincial and federal governments and industries in the environmental, agricultural and agri-food sector. She leads initiatives that focus on increasing the quality of education through experiential learning and out-of-the classroom training, broadening the range of collaborations at national and international level, and developing a network of academic partnerships fostering innovation. She has been instrumental in setting up the ‘McGill Sustainability Systems Initiative' in collaboration with the Faculties of Science and Engineering and under her leadership McGill has positioned itself to be a leader and convener of stakeholders in food safety, food security, sustainable agriculture, and environmental stewardship.
Anja Geitmann obtained her PhD in Environmental Biology in 1997 from the University of Siena (Italy), following undergraduate and graduate studies in biology at the University of Constance (Germany), Oregon State University (USA), and Stockholm University (Sweden). She performed postdoctoral research at the Université Laval, Québec, and at the University of Wageningen, The Netherlands. Prior to joining McGill, she was Professor at the Department of Biological Sciences of the Université de Montréal and a member of the Institut de recherche en biologie végétale, where she taught Plant Anatomy, Microscopy, and Scientific Communication at undergraduate and graduate levels. At McGill she continues her active research program and in 2016 she was awarded a Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Biomechanics of Plant Development. Her interdisciplinary research program focuses on the cellular processes that underly the development and reproduction of plants. Dr. Geitmann is actively involved with several learned societies. She served as President of the Microscopical Society of Canada and the Canadian Society of Plant Biologists. She currently is the President of the International Association of Plant Reproduction Research and she serves on the editorial boards of multiple scientific journals including Cell and Plant Physiology.
