Jessica Allen is the Lead Mycologist for NatureServe, bringing over 17 years of experience in fungal biology, conservation, and science communication. Her prior research has spanned disciplines from taxonomy and systematics to species distribution modeling, and comparative and population genomics to mechanistic cell biology. Before joining the team at NatureServe, she served as a tenured faculty member at Eastern Washington University and as Staff Scientist in the Reck-Peterson Lab at University of California San Diego. She earned her PhD from The New York Botanical Garden and the City University of New York Graduate Center and conducted postdoctoral research at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research. Jessica’s role establishes a dedicated mycology program at NatureServe.