Dennis Gonsalves (born 1943) is an American phytopathologist.[1] He has created with his team two virus-resistant papaya cultivars called SunUp and Rainbow,[2] which rescued the papaya sector in Hawaii from the devastating effects of the papaya ringspot virus that hit in the late 1990s.[3][4][5]
Gonsalves began his research career at Cornell University working on virus-resistant plants. While on a trip back home to Hawaii, he learned from local farmers that a virus was rapidly making its way toward the Big Island's Puna District, where the majority of the state's papayas were grown.[8] This led to his starting a research program in 1985 that resulted in the creation of a papaya with resistance to the papaya ringspot virus. His work is recognized worldwide and has received several awards.[9][10]
His Rainbow papaya makes up about 77 percent of the Hawaii's crop.[4] Funded by USAID, he helped develop locally adapted papaya varieties for Venezuela, Jamaica, Brazil, Africa, and Bangladesh.[11][12][13]
