Dr. Srdjan Acimovic has been hired as Tree Fruit and Specialty Crop Pathologist

Dr. Srdjan Acimovic has been hired as Assistant Professor, Tree Fruit and Specialty Crop Pathologist at the Alson H. Smith Jr. Agricultural Research and Extension Center, effective May 25th. Dr. Acimovic is currently a tree fruit pathologist at Cornell University's Hudson Valley Research Laboratory where he conducts research on management of tree diseases, plant pathogen identification and epidemiology, including lab and field evaluation of biocides and plant resistance activators for their control. 

As part of the SmartFarm Innovation Network, Dr. Acimovic will conduct research and extension programs that address current and future diseases of fruits that are relevant to Virginia producers. The position will emphasize apple and stone fruits, but may involve other specialty crops, relevant to Virginia and the region. We anticipate that Dr. Acimovic will seek grants, mentor graduate students, collaborate on fruit research with AREC faculty and other scientists, and maintain an active extension program.

Dr. Acimovic received his BS in Plant Protection at the University of Belgrade, Serbia, where he worked on newly emerging diseases of grapevine. He earned his MS in Phytopathology at the University of Novi Sad, Serbia, where he characterized fire blight symptom development and canker formation on apples, and evaluated fire blight forecasting using the METOS system. He obtained his PhD at Michigan State University in 2014, with research focused on control of fire blight (Erwinia amylovora) and apple scab (Venturia inaequalis) using trunk injection of plant protection materials. He subsequently served as a post-doctoral research associate with a private, plant protection company, and then as an Extension Associate with Cornell University before promotion to Senior Extension Associate with Cornell in 2019.

While at Michigan State University, Dr. Acimovic was awarded with A. L. Rogers Endowed Research Scholarship by Biomedical Laboratory Diagnostics Program and with Fruit and Vegetable Industry Scholarship by Michigan State Horticultural Society and sponsors. Dr. Acimovic is a member of the American Phytopathological Society, International Association for the Plant Protection Sciences, and International Fruit Tree Association, and has published 60 articles and proceedings in scientific journals and on conferences based in USA and abroad.

We look forward to Srdjan, his wife Dana, and their two young daughters joining us in Winchester later this spring.