Remembering Kathy Kahn
We are deeply saddened by the passing of Dr Kathy Kahn, a valued alumna whose outstanding contributions to plant science advanced the field in service of sustainable agriculture.
During her time at TSL, Kathy made valuable contributions to the field of plant immunity by characterising key resistance genes required to protect plants from disease.
She then dedicated her career to ensuring fundamental discoveries reached the fields through her role as a Programme Manager for the Gates Foundation, which allowed her to oversee many TSL-related projects that benefitted farmers in the Global South.
An enduring legacy
Kathy was a tireless advocate for capacity-building projects in low and middle income countries that applied innovative solutions to agricultural problems. She helped identify where the need was most acute and identified talented, driven individuals that could work in international partnerships to provide solutions.
Through her work with Gates, Kathy leaves an enduring legacy of successful projects combatting diseases such as bacterial blight of rice, Striga, and rice blast in sub-Saharan Africa. There are also a generation of young scientists working across the region who owe their training to the programmes that Kathy led.
Her good humour, engaging personality, coupled with her tenacity and drive were key to the success of many of the Gates-funded programmes to which she contributed.
Nick Talbot, Executive Director of The Sainsbury Laboratory, says “I greatly admired Kathy’s ability to lead large groups of scientists and stakeholders from all over the world and to get them to work together so productively. She was very innovative in the training approaches she used. She engendered trust between people from very different backgrounds and cultures, removing barriers to interaction, and encouraging everyone to see each other’s perspective and contribute to shared objectives. It is a rare gift and she always did this with great skill and humility. I will miss her a lot”
Jonathan Jones, Group Leader at The Sainsbury Laboratory, says: “We’re very sad to hear of the passing of Kathy Kahn, one of our alumni who went on to have an incredible impact on plant science in the service of sustainable agriculture. While a postdoc in my lab, she made extensive and careful contributions to our efforts with the Parker lab to identify genes required for the function of plant immune receptors. She was an exceptional colleague - careful and meticulous in her work and thoughtful and considerate with all team members. She is much missed”.
TSL's Chair of Board & Independent Trustee Director Appolinaire Djikeng said: "We’re deeply saddened by the loss of Dr. Kathy Kahn, a champion for African agriculture and global development. As a dedicated leader at numerous agencies, Kathy drove impactful initiatives that empowered communities, people and transformed food systems across Africa and beyond. Kathy’s passion for capacity building, innovation, and partnership left an indelible mark on the sector."
