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Speaker, Moderator, and Panelist Biographies
Stephen Barnes, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Environmental Health Sciences, Genetics, Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Vision Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He also serves as the Director of the Center for Nutrient-Gene Interaction, as Associate Director of the Purdue-UAB Botanicals Center for Age-Related Disease, and as Co-Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Mass Spectrometry/Proteomics Core Facility. His research interests include functional components of foods, and he is internationally recognized for his research on soy.
Steven Bodhaine, M.B.A., is President of the Quantitative Research Group and Director of the Global Health Practice at The Futures Company, a research-based trends and marketing consulting firm. He has counseled clients on the marketing impact of key social trends in America for the past 20 years. Mr. Bodhaine has conducted substantial primary research in the areas of new product development, branding and positioning, and marketing and communications strategy. He has focused primary attention on consulting with clients in the healthcare industry and has conducted qualitative and quantitative research among healthcare professionals, patients, policy makers, payers and the general public. Much of his work has explored the rational and emotional drivers of healthcare decision-making.
Aaron Brody, Ph.D., is President of Packaging/Brody, Inc. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Georgia’s Department of Food Science and Technology and teaches marketing management and new product de-
velopment for M.B.A. programs at Keller Graduate School of Management and St. Joseph’s University. He is an expert on the safest and best ways to package food. Dr. Brody has more than four decades of experience in food science. Working with a number of companies, he has developed precooked frozen foods, microwave food heating, modified atmosphere food preservation, aseptic packaging of high acid foods, and low-dose food irradiation.
Ronni Chernoff, Ph.D., R.D., F.A.D.A., C.S.D., is the Director of the Arkansas Geriatric Education Center, Associate Director of the Geriatric Research, Education & Clinical Center for Education and Evaluation for the Central Arkansas Veterans Affairs Health System, and Professor of Geriatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She is past president of the American Dietetic Association, where she also served on the Board of Editors of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Dr. Chernoff has published numerous abstracts, journal articles, and book chapters and is editor of the text, Geriatric Nutrition: The Health Professional’s Handbook, Third Edition (2006). She has served as Editor-in-Chief of Perspectives in Applied Nutrition, editor of The Digest, on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, and Associate Editor of Nutrition in Clinical Practice. She also served on the editorial boards of Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation, Nutrition Support Services, Clinical Management Newsletter, Directions in Clinical Nutrition, Senior Patient (Postgraduate Medicine), and the Journal of Nutrition for the Elderly. Her primary research interests are nutrition and aging and health promotion. Dr. Chernoff received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Susan J. Crockett, Ph.D., R.D., F.A.D.A., is Vice President and Senior Technology Officer in Health and Nutrition at General Mills where she leads the Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition. Since 1999, she has been responsible for health and nutrition strategy and programs for General Mills’ businesses, health and nutrition regulatory affairs and issues management, and nutrition science and research including dietary intake research and health professional communication.
Kerry Dearfield, Ph.D., is currently the Scientific Advisor for Risk Assessment in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA/FSIS). In the Office of Public Health Science, he develops policies, guidance, and directions for risk assessments and advises on environmental and microbial risk assessments for food safety. His scientific interests include the development of science policy and guidance; health risk assessments of environmental and microbial food contaminants; modes of action for toxicity (including mutational, physiological, and pharmacologi-
cal mechanisms); use of genotoxicity data in regulatory decisions (heritable risk, carcinogenicity, general toxicity); health effects testing guidelines (e.g., carcinogenicity, mutagenicity); development and use of peer review; and, risk assessment, risk management, and risk communication issues. Prior to joining USDA, Dr. Dearfield worked as a risk assessor and Senior Scientist for Science Policy at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Caroline Smith DeWaal, J.D., is Director of Food Safety for the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). She represents CSPI in the media, in Congress, and in the regulatory arena on a broad range of food safety issues. Ms. DeWaal is CSPI’s leading consumer analyst on reform of laws and regulations governing food safety. Since 1999, she has maintained and annually published a listing of foodborne illness outbreaks organized by food source that now contains over fifteen years of outbreaks reports. She has presented CSPI’s outbreak database at numerous scientific conferences. She has participated in a number of World Health Organization consultations on food safety and is currently an expert advisor on its Integrated Surveillance of Antibiotic Resistance project. She represents the International Association of Consumer Food Organizations at the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene, and has participated in several national advisory committees to USDA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Michael Doyle, Ph.D., is Regents Professor of Food Microbiology and Director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia. He is an active researcher in the area of food safety and security and works closely with the food industry, government agencies, and consumer groups on issues related to the microbiological safety of foods. His research focuses on developing methods to detect and control foodborne bacterial pathogens at all levels of the food continuum, from the farm to the table. He is internationally acknowledged as a leading authority on foodborne pathogens and is a member of the Institute of Medicine.
Johanna Dwyer, D.Sc., is Senior Nutrition Scientist at the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) where she works under the Interagency Personnel Acquisition Program (IPA). She is also a Professor of Medicine (Nutrition) and Community Health at the Freidman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and the Tufts University Medical School, and Director of the Frances Stern Nutrition Center at Tufts-New England Medical Center. At ODS, her work involves the development of a Dietary Supplement Ingredient Database that will provide analytically substantiated values for key ingredients in dietary supplements. Dr. Dwyer also directs activities on developing understanding of dietary supplement motivation and use on the part of Americans. She is a past President of the American Society for Nutrition Sciences and the
American Society for Nutrition Education, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine.
Luigi Fontana, M.D., is Research Associate Professor of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, as well as Associate Director of the Longevity Research Program at Washington University Medical School. He is also Director of the Division of Nutrition and Aging at the Italian National Institute of Health in Rome. Dr. Fontana has an interest in nutrition, aging, and longevity. His research focuses on the potential role of diet and exercise in retarding the aging process. Dr. Fontana is investigating the effects of calorie restriction, plant-based diets, and endurance exercise on outcomes such as cardiovascular risk factors and function, inflammation, immune function, glucose tolerance, bone metabolism, and quality of life. He is also studying the endocrine role of abdominal fat storage as a mediator of insulin resistance and accelerated aging.
Steven Gendel, Ph.D., has worked for FDA since 1990, initially at the National Center for Food Safety and Technology in Chicago as Chief of the Biotechnology Studies Branch, then with the Office of Science, and now with the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) Risk Assessment Coordination Team. Dr. Gendel has published extensively on the application of molecular techniques and bioinformatics to food safety and has expertise in food safety risk analysis and food safety informatics. Prior to joining FDA, he held postdoctoral positions at Harvard University and the University of Toronto and was a faculty member of the Department of Genetics at Iowa State University.
David J. Greenblatt, M.D., is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, and Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine, and Anesthesia at Tufts University School of Medicine. He is also Director of the Clinical Pharmacology Program at Tufts University School of Medicine and Tufts Medical Center, and Associate Program Director of the institution’s Clinical Research Center. Dr. Greenblatt has been an active investigator in a number of areas, including the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and neuroreceptor properties of the benzodiazepine derivatives; drug disposition and response in old age; molecular mechanisms and consequences of drug interactions; modulation of drug metabolism by nutrients and natural medicines; and the regulation of expression and function of Cytochrome P450 enzymes and energy-dependent transport proteins. Dr. Greenblatt is also a past President of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology.
Edward Groth III, Ph.D., is a Consultant with Groth Consulting Services. His main areas of interest are food safety, toxic chemicals, risk assessment, and risk communication. He has participated, as a consumer advocate, in public debates and dialogues with government agencies on a myriad of health and safety issues.
William K. Hallman, Ph.D., is Director of the Food Policy Institute and Professor in the Department of Human Ecology at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. He is a psychologist with more than 20 years experience examining controversial issues related to public perceptions of risk related to food, health, and the environment. His current research projects include studies of public responses to food biosecurity threats, the use of nanotechnology in food products, and public understanding of qualified health claims.
Gordon Jensen, M.D., Ph.D., is Professor and Director of the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University. He also serves as Professor of Medicine at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center and is a Specialist in Nutrition with Centre Medical and Surgical Associates at the Mt. Nittany Medical Center. Dr. Jensen’s research interests have focused largely on geriatric nutrition concerns. He is a past President of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, and past Chair of the Medical Nutrition Council of the American Society for Nutrition. Currently, Dr. Jensen is a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board and the Food Forum.
Kevin Kinsella, Ph.D., is Health Scientist Administrator and Demographer at the National Institute on Aging, Division of Behavioral and Social Research (BSR). He is responsible for the management and development of an increasingly interdisciplinary portfolio on the demography of aging. Prior to coming to BSR, he was at the U.S. Census Bureau where he served as Chief of the Aging Studies Branch in the International Programs Center, and he also served as the Study Director for two National Research Council studies. He has authored numerous publications on aging populations and prepared international demographic estimates of aging populations.
Jim Kirkwood, M.B.A., is currently Vice President of the Center for General Mills Technology Creation (G-Tech). In this role, he has leadership for a consolidated technology organization that includes the General Mills Strategic Technology Development, the Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition, GMI Materials Technology Development, GMI Agricultural Research and the company’s Grain Science/Flour and Milling Technology groups. Jim
brings 29 years of cross-functional experience in the food industry including assignments in research and development, marketing, general management, operations, and quality.
Jean Lloyd, M.S., has served as the National Nutritionist for the U.S. Administration on Aging in Washington, DC, since 1992. The U.S. Administration on Aging, within the Department of Health and Human Services, administers the Older Americans Act (OAA), which establishes a comprehensive and coordinated system of community-based supportive and nutrition services to older people, including congregate and home-delivered nutrition services programs. During her time with the agency, she has been responsible and provided input for the nutrition related functions of policy, budget, legislation, and regulation; program development and implementation; training and technical assistance; advocacy; evaluation; and research, demonstration, and training grants. She also represents the agency as a member of the Dietary Reference Intake Steering Committee.
Bernadene Magnuson, Ph.D., is Senior Scientific and Regulatory Consultant with Cantox Health Science and is Associate Adjunct Professor of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto. Her work has focused on toxicological safety assessments of foods, dietary ingredients, and supplements, with a specific focus on cancer development. She is a pioneer in the developing field of food nanoscience, and is leading efforts to address safety issues facing the food industry in the adoption of promising new technology. Dr. Magnuson has also held multiple positions in the Institute of Food Technologists and the Society of Toxicology.
Simin Nikbin Meydani, D.V.M., Ph.D., is Director of the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University as well as Director of the Nutritional Immunology Laboratory at the Center. She is Professor of Nutrition and Immunology at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and Tufts Sackler Graduate Program in Immunology. Dr. Meydani’s scientific interests include the impact of nutrition on immune response and resistance to infectious diseases in developed and developing countries, micronutrients, dietary lipids, calorie restriction, and probiotics, on which she has published extensively. In addition, she has studied the basic biology of aging as it is related to immune and inflammatory responses, the role of nutrition in the aging process, and age-associated diseases. Dr. Meydani has served as a member of FAO/WHO Expert Panels on nutrition and is a past President of the American Aging Association.
Marcia Pelchat, Ph.D., is Associate Member at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, an independent nonprofit institute for basic research on the chemi-
cal senses and nutrition in Philadelphia. Her major research interest is the development and modification of food and beverage preferences in humans. She is a National Institutes of Health grant reviewer, is on the editorial board of the journal, Appetite, and is Honorary Professor of Gastronomy at the Restaurant School in Philadelphia.
Pamela Starke-Reed, Ph.D., is Deputy Director of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) Division of Nutrition Research Coordination (DNRC). The DNRC advises the NIH Director and others on nutrition research issues and works with the NIH organizational components to coordinate nutrition research and research training initiatives. Prior to this position, Dr. Starke-Reed held two positions within the National Institute on Aging. Dr. Starke-Reed also serves on many committees including the Federal Steering Committee on Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, the Federal Dietary Reference Intakes Steering Committee, and the Federal Steering Committee on Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and Healthy People 2010/2020.
Dennis Sullivan, M.D., is Director of Little Rock Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, Executive Vice Chairman of the Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatrics, and Professor of Geriatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. His clinical and research expertise is in the area of nutrition and rehabilitation of the frail elderly and assessment of health outcomes.
Stephen Sundlof, Ph.D., is Director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In this capacity, he provides executive leadership to the Center’s development and implementation of programs and policies relative to the composition, quality, safety, and labeling of foods, food and color additives, dietary supplements and cosmetics. Dr. Sundlof previously served as director of FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine. Prior to joining the FDA, he was a Professor at the University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine.
Katherine L. Tucker, Ph.D., is Senior Scientist and Director of the Dietary Assessment and Epidemiology Research Program at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. She is also Professor and Director, Nutrition Epidemiology Program for the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, and Adjunct Associate Professor for the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at Tufts University School of Medicine. Her research interests include diet and health, nutrition in older adults, dietary methodology, nutritional status of high-risk populations, and nutrition epidemiology.
Nancy Wellman, Ph.D., is an affiliated faculty member at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. She recently retired as Professor of Dietetics and Nutrition in the School of Public Health at Florida International University, the public research university in Miami. She is the former director of the National Resource Center on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Aging. Dr. Wellman is a past President of the American Dietetic Association and has been a member of committees for the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. She currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for the International Food Information Council Foundation, is a member of the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) Public Information Committee, and is an ASN national spokesperson.
