Wendy L. Applequist earned a PhD in plant systematics from Iowa State University in 1999 and has worked at the Missouri Botanical Garden since 2000. She is currently an Associate scientist in the William L. Brown Center and the Editor-in-Chief of Novon. Her research interests include medicinal plants and the flora of Madagascar. She has served as Secretary of the Nomenclature Committee for Vascular Plants since 2011 and is a past-president of the Society for Ethnobotany.