Mehari Desta Hawku, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology at the University of Pretoria, working under the supervision of Professor Lucy Moleleki. In 2016, he was awarded a Chinese Government Scholarship to pursue his PhD in Plant Pathology at Northwest A&F University, China, under the supervision of Professor Zhensheng Kang. His doctoral research focused on the interaction between wheat and the stripe rust fungus Puccinia striiformis f.sp. tritici, including the functional characterization of two wheat resistance genes. He earned both his MSc in Plant Pathology and BSc in Crop Production  and Protection from Ambo University, Ethiopia.

Dr. Hawku began his career as an associate researcher at the Tigray Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) in Ethiopia where he worked for five years. He later joined Woldia University, where he served as a lecturer and Head of the Department of Plant Sciences for three years. After completing his PhD, he worked for three years as a lecturer at the University of Rwanda. His academic and research interests focus on plant–microbe interactions, disease management strategies, and sustainable agricultural practices.