Dr Brett Summerell is the Deputy Executive Director, Science and Conservation at the Botanic Gardens and Centennial Parklands in Sydney. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales and at Kansas State University. He has a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Hons 1) and a PhD from the University of Sydney. Brett has been employed at the Sydney gardens for nearly 26 years, initially as a plant pathologist and mycologist. For the last ten years he has led the science and conservation programs there, including the National Herbarium of New South Wales and the recently completed Australian PlantBank. He maintains a research interest in plant diseases and the systematics of fungi and has published nearly 150 refereed papers in this area.