Gökhan Öztürk is a visiting researcher from Isparta, Turkey. He completed his Ph.D. in 2010 at the Süleyman Demirel University of Isparta, Turkey. He studies fertilization biology and breeding of pear, apple, and quince in the Tree Fruit Research Institute in Turkey. He has breeding programs for both pear scion and rootstocks. Pear cultivar breeding has focused on resistance to fire blight with the first crosses made in 2006. Every year about 2000 seedlings are added and currently, there are 15,000 seedlings in first stage observation. The pear rootstock breeding program started in 2009 with the aim of obtaining dwarf and semi-dwarf rootstocks. Gökhan won a scholarship from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey to visit the WSU Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center for 9 months. He is hosted by Kate Evans.