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Date: November 14, 2022 

Contact: Missouri Botanical Garden Public Relations Dept. 
Phone: (314) 577-0286 (media use only) 
Email: cmartin@mobot.org (media use only) 

For Immediate Release  

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN WILL HIRE EIGHT SCIENTISTS 

Positions are part of strategy to enhance Science and Conservation Program 

(ST. LOUIS) The Missouri Botanical Garden is proud to announce its enhanced Science and Conservation strategy to face the global environmental challenges of our time. The Garden will not only strengthen its existing state-of-the-art programs but also implement a bold, multi-year strategic vision to expand its leading role in the critical work to achieve a sustainable future for life on our planet. 

This vision focuses on four pillars: Exploration, Conservation, Restoration, and Education and Capacity Building to address pressing challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, food security and over-exploitation of natural resources and land use change.  

The Garden recently hired Dr. Gunter Fischer as Senior Vice President of Science and Conservation to lead these initiatives. Fischer, a world-renowned scientist, plant taxonomist, conservationist and restoration ecologist, joined the Garden in March 2022 having previously served as the Head of the Flora Conservation Department at Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden in Hong Kong SAR, PRC.  

“We have to explore, understand, conserve and restore ecosystems, habitats, species, genetic diversity and uses of plants to preserve and enrich life,” says Dr. Fischer. “By bridging science and practice, we guarantee that the strategic goals of the four pillars are implemented in real world projects and that findings are communicated to local and global stakeholders.” 

The Missouri Botanical Garden is seeking world-class talent as it invests in bringing eight new science staff, four Directors and an additional four scientists, into leadership positions. The Garden is further elevating its research and conservation work and looks forward to selecting Directors in each of four strategic areas – Plant Systematics, The Latin America and Africa and Madagascar Research and Conservation Programs, and its Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development. 

The Garden already implements an extensive research and conservation program locally, nationally and internationally to identify, understand and ensure that thousands of threatened species and their habitats are secured and restored. Garden staff publish over 10% of the total new species described worldwide each year. The millions of plants in the Garden’s herbarium, living collections, and seed bank make its 79-acre campus one of the hottest ‘hot spots’ for plants anywhere on the planet. 

Missouri Botanical Garden President Dr. Peter Wyse Jackson notes, “We live in troubling times for the environment worldwide. The Garden is a leader in understanding, nurturing and safeguarding biodiversity and is dedicated to these new initiatives and commitments. We know that so much is gravely threatened through unsustainable development, habitat loss and climate change. The work we undertake in the fields of exploration, conservation, restoration and education are crucial for the future in our efforts to save the plants that sustain us.” 

Interested candidates can find job listings on this page. 

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The Missouri Botanical Garden’s mission is “to discover and share knowledge about plants and their environment in order to preserve and enrich life”. Today, 163 years after opening, the Missouri Botanical Garden is a world-renowned center for science, conservation, education and horticultural display and a National Historic Landmark.