Dr. Brown is Full Professor at The University of Arizona, Tucson in the School of Plant Sciences with a joint appointment in the Department of Entomology. She also holds an honorary appointment at Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, Merida. Brown was born in Youngstown, Ohio and moved to Scottsdale, Arizona at an early age. She received her B. S. in Horticulture Plant Pathology minor from Texas A M University in 1979. For her M.S. degree she studied luteoviruses and aphid vector biology at Washington State University. Judy returned to Arizona and completed her Ph.D. at the University of Arizona where she was the first to study whitefly-transmitted viruses in Arizona, that coincidently emerged as a threat to the desert southwest as she began her graduate studies and early scientific career. Tucson remained her base with appointments as a post-doc 1985-1989) and Research Professor 1990-1999) ultimately joining the academic ranks in Plant Sciences as Associate Professor 1999) and advancing to Full Professor 2004) She has been recognized for her scholarly achievements as recipient of the Wellman Award, the Caribbean Division’s highest recognition for international contributions to plant pathology, as APS Fellow in 2011, and Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow in 2015. In 2019, she was awarded the College of Agriculture’s Faculty of the Year primarily for her international research and training contributions.