Dr. Julia Stevens is the platform lead of the Quality and Disease Indications for Plant Biotechnology and a Science Fellow at Bayer Crop Science. In this role she drives cross crop strategy development for disease resistance and grain quality traits to develop new value pools and address emerging market needs. With expertise in molecular biology and genomics, she works with trait discovery teams creating strategy to deliver crop traits through biotechnology and genome editing technologies. In previous roles with the company, her teams have developed robust genotyping systems for high-throughput molecular labs and developed novel sequence detection technologies. Her contributions were recognized outside of Bayer as a St. Louis Business Journal 40 Under 40 honoree in 2023. Julia is passionate about team development and mentoring to drive career development and technical innovation. She is actively involved with Bayer's Women in Science Exchange, an organization with the mission to build a community to support and elevate women in science to be authentic and impactful at all levels.