Thorsten Lumbsch has been serving as Vice President of Science & Education since June 2017 and is currently Chief Scientific Officer, overseeing the Field Museum's four centers—Collections, Integrative Research, Science Action, and Education, as well as the Library, and the Center for Repatriation, Provenance Research, and Tribal Relations.

Thorsten joined the Museum as Assistant Curator in 2003, developing a research program focused on the evolution of lichen-forming fungi. In 2006, he was promoted to Associate Curator and then to full Curator in 2014. From 2009 to 2013, he served as chair of the Department of Botany, and after a reorganization of the Museum’s scientific areas, as Associate Director and then Director of the Integrative Research Center (2013–2017).

Thorsten has been fascinated by lichens (often overlooked but ecologically important) since childhood. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Essen in 1993 and served as an assistant professor (“Privatdozent”) at the University of Duisburg-Essen before joining the Field. His publications number more than 590 papers, over 20 book chapters, and five books. He has active research collaborations in Thailand, Spain, and Kenya. Fieldwork has taken him to all continents, including Antarctica, but his work is focused on Australasia and south-east Asia, especially Thailand. He has collaborated on the description of more than 280 new lichen species. Thorsten is managing editor of the journal MycoKeys , a member of several other editorial boards, and past president of the International Association for Lichenology.

In addition to his administrative and research roles, Thorsten is also active as a mentor to the scientists of tomorrow. He is a lecturer at the University of Chicago, the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. He also supervises postdoctoral scientists at the Museum and participates in K-12 educational programs, and served as content adviser for the exhibit Lichens: The Coolest Things You've Never Heard Of (2014–2017).

Thorsten received from the German Science Foundation the Gerhard Hess Award for outstanding young scientists in 1999 and the Heisenberg Award in 1998. In 2017, 2018, and 2019, he was named a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher. In 2018, he won the Senckenberg Award for outstanding achievements in natural history research, in 2024, he was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and in 2025, he was elected as an International Member of the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences in Spain.

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Executive Staff