Cássio van den Berg holds a degree in Agricultural Engineering from the ESALQ/University of São Paulo (1994), a Master's degree in Ecology from UNICAMP (1996), and a PhD in Botany from the University of Reading and Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew (2000). He did his post-doctorate in the Brazilian Genome Program at PUC-PR. He is currently a full-time professor of Phanerogam Systematics at the State University of Feira de Santana and a Coordinator of the Laboratory of the Molecular Systematics of Plants (LAMOL). He has experience in Botany and Plant Genetics, with an emphasis on Molecular Systematics and the main themes he explores include Orchidaceae taxonomy, Phylogenetic and Phylogenomic Systematics of Plants and Fungi, Traditional and Geometric Morphometrics, the Genetics of Natural Plant Populations, and DNA barcoding. He has coordinated research projects in the areas of phylogeny, genetic variability, carbon sequestration, and DNA barcoding. In 2014, he received the Swiss Orchid Research Award for his contribution to studies on the phylogeny of Cattleya and Laeliinae. He also served as a visiting professor at the Universitat Basel, teaching the course "Biology of Orchids" for undergraduate and graduate students.