About me

Hi! This is Rafa Medina, and I am a botanist. My main research interest is the discovery and interpretation of cryptic plant diversity, specifically among bryophytes, by means of diverse sources of evidence, from morphological taxonomy to phylogenomics. My current group of study is the moss family Funariaceae, a fascinating evolutionary playground for the convergent evolution of reduced sporophyte morphology, and taxonomic home of the model organism Physcomitrium patens. I am also engaged with the study and preservation of the legacy of past botanists, including the curation of herbaria. I am also interested in Science Communication and have participated in different projects that pursued the effective transmission of the scientific knowledge and critical thinking to the public. As an educator, my fundamental purpose is to cultivate the appreciation of natural history and evolutionary biology among my students.

My scientific career began at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, where I obtained my Ph.D. in 2012 working on taxonomy and phylogenetics of species of the moss genus Orthotrichum. I then became postdoctoral associate at the University of Connecticut where I conducted my research on the reconstruction of the phylogeny of the family Funariaceae using high-throughput sequencing. Between 2016 and 2020 I was assistant professor at Augustana College (Illinois) and director of the AUGIE herbarium. My last professional move was to return to my home city: since September 2020 I am assistant professor of botany at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where you can find me now.