A Jamaican Science Icon, Professor Marcia Roye is a biotechnologist with a focus on plant virology towards growing healthier, disease-free plants. She remembers growing up in south St. Elizabeth surrounded by “bush” which she and her friends explored e.g. tasting and crushing berries on paper and seeing different colours appear. Later on, at the University of the West Indies she studied biotechnology and this led her to become a plant virologist, identifying the many viruses that impact the crops her family and neighbours grew. The first step in figuring out how to treat plant disease is to identify the cause and isolate the specific virus or other pathogens.  Dr. Roye’s work has resulted in the identification of more than 24 viruses associated with a wide variety of plant crops such as red peas and scotch-bonnet peppers and has been instrumental in facilitating the control of viruses by cultivation of resistant varieties of tomato and cabbage. In recent years, her research has expanded to humans, as she is studying the detection of anti-retroviral (ARV) drug resistance of HIV in Jamaican patients. This research serves to improve ARV treatment and outcome for HIV-affected individuals as well as the quality of life of HIV patients. Professor Roye is a Senior Lecturer based in the Caribbean Centre for Research in Bioscience where in addition to lecturing she supervises graduate students research. has served the Faculty of Science & Technology as the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research. She has worked all over the globe helping scientists and farmers fight plant disease and she serves on local, regional and international committees in the pursuit in improving agricultural practices to reduce world hunger and has won numerous awards for her research including the presitgious Fulbright and UNESCO-L'Oreal fellowships. In 2024 Professor Marcia Roye was awarded the Gold Musgrave Medal for Eminence in Science and she also received the RJR Gleaner Honour for Science and Technology.