Anne Simon is an American biology professor, scientist, and a science advisor on the American television series The X-Files, for both the original nine season run and the 2016 revival. The first episode of the original series that she provided science consultation on was the first-season finale "The Erlenmeyer Flask", which was telecast on May 13, 1994. She became involved with the series through her connection as a family friend of series creator Chris Carter. She wrote a 2001 book about the biological science of the show, The Real Science Behind the X-Files: Microbes, Meteorites and Mutants (ISBN 0-684-85618-2).[1]
Her father is screenwriter and playwright Mayo Simon, and her sister is Horrid Henry author Francesca Simon.[2] She received her BA in biology (magna cum laude) from the University of California San Diego in 1978 and her PhD in genetics from Indiana University in 1982.[3]
Simon's primary research is on virus replication and symptom expression using the model virus, Turnip crinkle virus. She is a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park in the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics.[1] Dr. Simon also heads the Virology Program at UMd, and is a senior editor of Journal of Virology.
Anne Simon, a plant virologist at the University of Maryland, has been the science adviser for "The X-Files" almost since the beginning. She's excited about the revival, which she's also worked on.
Her dad, Mayo Simon, was a Hollywood scriptwriter. He penned some prominent sci-fi offerings — 'Marooned,' 'Futureworld' and 'Man from Atlantis' — when she was a child living in Southern California.