Bio:

Dr. Nunnari is a cell biologist and pioneer in the field of mitochondrial biology. She is currently a distinguished professor and the Chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of California, Davis while also serving as the editor-in-chief of The Journal of Cell Biology. She studied chemistry at the College of Wooster before obtaining a Ph.D. in pharmacology from Vanderbilt University, working with Lee Limbird. As a postdoctoral fellow with Peter Walter at the University of California, San Francisco, Nunnari pioneered the use of green fluorescent protein to visualize mitochondria in budding yeast, helping to establish the field of mitochondrial dynamics.  Nunnari was named editor-in-chief of The Journal of Cell Biology in August 2015, becoming the first woman to serve in this position. She is a member of the American Society for Cell Biology, and served as the Society’s president in 2018 and on the executive committee for several years.  In 2017, Nunnari was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences.