He holds a Ph.D. in Plant Biology from the University of California, Davis (1994) and is a Research Professor at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the institution’s highest academic rank, at the Institute for Mediterranean and Subtropical Horticulture “La Mayora” in Málaga, Spain. Throughout his scientific career, he has coordinated numerous national and international research projects, as well as collaborations with the private sector, focusing on genetic diversity, germplasm characterization and conservation, and reproductive biology in subtropical and temperate fruit crops.
He has published more than 200 scientific and technical papers, most of them in high-impact journals. A frequent invited speaker at public and private institutions worldwide, he also serves as editor for several scientific journals and has supervised 20 doctoral dissertations. His international collaborative projects have extended to countries including Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the United States, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Kenya, Mauritius, New Zealand, Peru, Uruguay, Tanzania, and Tunisia. Since 2017, he has been an honorary member of the American Botanical Society of the United States.
