Dr. Hajeri has been working as the Managing Director at APCD since 2013. He started working with the agency as a Lab Operations Manager/Plant Pathologist. His role, as the Managing Director/Plant Pathologist, is to develop scientifically based plans and procedures to ensure the timely, accurate, and orderly identification of and response to citrus pests and diseases. He has his PhD degree from University of California, Riverside and carried out research on Citrus leaf blotch virus and Citrus exocortis viroid. He worked on Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (HLB), and Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) during his post-doctoral position at Citrus Research and Education Center, University of Florida. Dr. Hajeri was born and grew up in Vijayapura, Karnataka State, India. He earned a BS (Agriculture) from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka, and an MS (Plant Pathology) from CCS Haryana Agriculture University, Haryana, India. His hobbies include hiking, photography, and exploring nature during his free time.