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Name: Patrick O'Mahony
Place of work: Food Safety Authority of Ireland
Member since: 1996

1. Has being a member helped you in your career? If so, how?
   I was a bench scientist until October 2000, and as a plant biologist, being a member of ASPB (ASPP then) was essential to my research in that I kept abreast of the discipline in general. The expertise I gained as a scientist in plant biology and in particular with plant biotechnology is the reason I was offered my current position.
2. Why has membership in ASPB been so important?
   Being a member of ASPB as a scientist is critical to being an erudite and respected research scientist. Being a member of ASPB now is important as it shows that I have the ability and willingness to keep up-to-date with scientific advances, even though I am no longer directly working as a scientist. I find that many of those who regulate science are not equipped to do so be-cause they do not have a scientific background.
3. Was anyone instrumental in getting you to join ASPB?
   Dr. Mel Oliver and Dr. John Burke of the USDA/ARS as my bosses between 1995 and 2000 encouraged me to present results at the annual ASPB meetings and thus become a member.
4. What would you tell nonmembers to encourage them to join?
   If they are serious about plant biology, then ASPB is a good source of information and contacts that can help them become a leader in their discipline.
5. What are you reading these days?
   In my current position I have to keep abreast of national (Irish) and international legislation relating to food and food production, and thus I do read a lot of legal-type documents. I also read news articles that I receive through the variety of e-mail news sources daily, and this keeps me up-to-date on topical is-sues relating to food, food production, and the evolving technology involved. I sometimes get a chance to read scientific journals like Plant Physiology, Science, TIPS, and others, but not as of-ten as I would like.
6. What do you think is the next "big thing" in plant biology?
   The next big thing in plant biology will be providing developing countries with the means to produce sufficient crops to sustain their own population. This will probably happen through donation of technology rights in a number of years when much more is known about the biology of plants through genomics/ proteomics/metabolomics.
7. Do you still read print journals? Where do you usually read them: work, home, library, in the car, on the bus?
   We have a small library at my workplace that I browse from time to time.
8. Do you have any hobbies?
   I play racquet sports such as tennis and racquetball, but mostly squash.
9. What is your most treasured possession?
   My good health.
10. What person, living or dead, do you most admire?
    The person I admire most was not a scientist. It is my father, and he is deceased.
11. What do you still have left to learn?
    I have more to learn than I have learned, but I would really like to learn how to get the general public to be more aware and even appreciate what science has done and can do for society. The general public, unfortunately, is too easily misinformed, and getting the right message out subsequently becomes very difficult. Also, scientists are not good communicators outside their own realm, and thus if I could learn to change their ethos in that respect, it would also help the public become more aware and less vulnerable.