Dr. Ronholm completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Waterloo earning a B.Sc. in Microbiology. She obtained her PhD in 2013 from the University of Ottawa, where she was supported by a CIHR Banting and Best CGS that enabled her to identify and characterize novel serological detection methods for Salmonella enterica and Listeria monocytogenes. During her Ph.D. work she also held a visiting scientist position at the University of Hiroshima (Japan) where she worked on elucidating the biochemical activity of bacterial peptidoglycan hydrolyses. From 2013-2014 she was a post-doctoral fellow in the Canadian Astrobiology Training Program (NSERC-CREATE) in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences at McGill University. Her research focused on using next generation sequencing to understand microbial communities in the Canadian high arctic. From 2014-2016 she was a Visiting Fellow in the Bureau of Microbial Hazards at Health Canada where she worked on developing next generation sequencing techniques and procedures for use in the monitoring and regulation of microbiological food safety in Canada. In 2017 she joined McGill University as an Assistant Professor where is is cross-appointed between the Department of Food Science and the Department of Animal Science. She was recently awarded the Deputy Minister's Award for Excellence in Science for her contribution to optimizing whole genome sequencing for food safety.