Consumer Behavior and Food Science Innovations for Optimal Nutrition

Speakers

Organizers

Girish Ganjyal, PhD

Washington State University

Dr. Girish Ganjyal is a faculty in the School of Food Science at the Washington State University (WSU). Girish received his Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) in Food Processing. After graduating from UNL, he worked as a Principal Scientist at MGP Ingredients, Inc. in the areas of protein and starch modifications and extrusion processing. Later he worked at PepsiCo in their Advanced Research Team on extrusion and frying processes, before joining WSU. Girish has over 9 years of industry experience in food ingredients, process technologies and food product development. Girish currently offers extension and research services for food companies of all sizes and types through the WSU Food Processing extension and research programs. Girish is based in Pullman, WA.

Jessica Fanzo, PhD

Columbia University

Jessica Fanzo is an Assistant Professor of Nutrition in the Institute of Human Nutrition and Department of Pediatrics at Columbia University in New York. She also serves as the Senior Advisor of Nutrition Policy at the Center on Globalization and Sustainable Development. Before joining Columbia University, Jessica was the Evaluation and Monitoring Officer for the REACH Interagency partnership at the UN World Food Programme. From 2010–11, Jessica was a Senior Scientist at Bioversity International, a CGIAR center, in Rome Italy, where she led their Nutrition and Biodiversity program. From 2007–2010, she served as the Nutrition Director at the Center for Global Health and Economic Development at the Earth Institute, and the Nutrition Regional Advisor for East and Southern Africa at the Millennium Development Goal Centre at the World Agroforestry Centre in Kenya. Prior to joining the Earth Institute, she was a Program Officer for the Medical Research Program focusing on global health initiatives at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Jessica became the first laureate in 2012 of the Daniel Carasso Premio for her work on sustainable food and diets for long-term human health. Jessica has a PhD in Nutrition from the University of Arizona and completed a Stephen I. Morse postdoctoral fellowship in Immunology at Columbia University.

Julianne Curran, PhD

Pulse Canada

Julianne Curran has a PhD in Human Nutritional Sciences from the University of Manitoba and has worked at Pulse Canada since 2005 as part of a team to position pulse crops (beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas) and their ingredient derivatives as healthy and environmentally sustainable ingredient solutions for the food industry. In her role as Director of Nutrition, Scientific and Regulatory Affairs, Julianne facilitates research that leads to the development of credible, science-based nutrition and health marketing messages and health claims. Julianne assists pulse industry stakeholders with developing label claims and marketing materials, identifies potential regulatory barriers to use of pulse food ingredients and communicates these issues back to the pulse industry and research community. In addition, Julianne also communicates regularly with research scientists and funding organizations on the Canadian pulse industry's strategic areas of focus for nutrition, health and food science research and in particular gives guidance on regulatory considerations and commercial interests. Julianne has taught nutrition and food science related courses at the University of Manitoba and is an author on several publications related to her PhD thesis and pulse nutrition and health topics. Julianne is also a member of Dietitians of Canada and serves on the Editorial Board for the Bean Institute in the US.

Maret Traber, PhD

Oregon State University

Dr. Maret G.Traber is a Professor in the Nutrition Program, College of Public Health and Human Sciences, and the Helen P. Rumbel Professor for Micronutrient Research in the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University. Dr. Traber is considered one of the world's leading experts on vitamin E. She pioneered the use of deuterium-labeled vitamin E for studies evaluating vitamin E status in humans. Her studies caused a paradigm shift in our understanding of the mechanisms regulating vitamin E availability in humans. Her work has provided the scientific basis for understanding the complex role of vitamin E in human health. She has published over 170 peer-reviewed and 100 invited papers, all in highly regarded journals. She pioneered the methodologies for evaluating vitamin E status in humans, and through this identified key mechanisms for regulating vitamin E bioavailability in humans. This work significantly contributed to establishing the Dietary Reference Intakes for vitamin E. Dr. Traber currently serves on the editorial boards of Free Radical Biology & Medicine and of Redox Biology.

Riccardo Accolla, PhD

Firmenich

Riccardo Accolla, PhD, is Director of Discovery of the Health and Nutrition platform and Taste Modulation Business Unit within Firmenich, based in Princeton, NJ. In his current role he is responsible of identifying innovative technologies / solutions / business models in the field of Consumer Health and Taste perception Modulation. Over the last 3 years, Riccardo was instrumental to establish Firmenich as a key stakeholder in multidisciplinary Public-Private partnerships on Obesity and NCDs prevention with a sound focus on go-to-market solutions (product, positioning). In September 2013 he was invited by the Sackler Institute of Nutrition Sciences to join the Working Group on Technology and Innovation in Agriculture, Food, and Nutrition. Riccardo obtained a PhD in Neuroscience from the Brain Mind Institute at Swiss Polytechnic Federal Institute (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland, and a MEng in Biomedical Engineering from the Polytechnic School of Milan, Italy. His research on taste perception, cognition and memory has been published in high impact, peer-reviewed journals.

Mandana Arabi, MD, PhD

Sackler Institute for Nutrition Science

Amy Beaudreault, PhD

Sackler Institute for Nutrition Science

Keynote Speaker

Joanne Guthrie, PhD

United States Department of Agriculture

Joanne F. Guthrie is a nutritionist with the Food Assistance Branch, Food Economics Division of the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS). She is the Project Director for the Behavioral Economics–Child Nutrition Initiative, conducted by ERS with funding support from USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). As Project Director, she developed and manages a portfolio of extramurally-funded projects that employ behavioral economics theory to identify strategies to increase the effectiveness of USDA school meal programs. The project was awarded the USDA Secretary's Honor Award in 2011. In addition, she conducts research and evaluation studies with a special focus on USDA child nutrition programs and on nutrition education provided through food assistance programs. She represents ERS on the USDA's Human Nutrition Coordinating Committee and other interagency Federal nutrition committees.

Speakers

Peter Clarke, PhD

University of Southern California

Peter Clarke, Ph.D., is Professor of Communication, and of Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California. He has directed projects that apply advanced telecommunications to healthcare. His most recent book (with Susan H. Evans) is Surviving Modern Medicine. Clarke’s current interests center on improving human nutrition. The program he and Evans created, From the Wholesaler to the Hungry (FWH), launched more than 150 new efforts nationwide that recover vast quantities of surplus fresh produce and direct these nutritious foods to low-income Americans. FWH received awards for public service from the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and the UPS Foundation. Clarke and Evans are now developing and field testing Quick! Help for Meals, a system that customizes recipes and food-use tips for clients of community pantries. This individualized messaging greatly increases pantry clients’ consumption of vegetable-based meals and snacks. In addition to his research and work in social action, Clarke has chaired or served as dean of four academic programs in communication at three universities: the School of Communications (University of Washington); the Department of Journalism and, later, the Department of Communication (University of Michigan); and the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism (University of Southern California).

Bruce Cogill, PhD

Bioversity International

Bruce Cogill is the program leader for Nutrition and Marketing of Diversity at the Rome head office of Bioversity International. He has an extensive experience in management, food and nutrition policy, nutrition, sustainable diets, agriculture and environment, research, programs and practice. He holds a Ph.D. and Master’s degrees from Cornell University in the U.S.A. where he studied International Nutrition and Agricultural Economics and an undergraduate degree from Australia in Food Science and Technology. He has consulted on food and nutrition for Universities, the UN, the World Bank and others. His experience includes appointments as the Chief of Nutrition at USAID Washington where he led the nutrition effort for the Feed the Future and the Global Health Initiative. He was coordinator for the Global Nutrition Cluster at UNICEF where he coordinated over 37 NGOs, academic, UN and technical agencies in the food and nutrition preparedness and response to emergencies. In addition, he spearheaded the successful FANTA and A2Z projects and USAID’s efforts in research and programming for nutrition and food security, HIV, micronutrients and in the community management of severe and moderate acute malnutrition. He has contributed to strategy developments for large donors and served on technical committees and recently was on the Board of the Micronutrient Initiative, GAIN Alliance, and the Chair of the Steering Committee for the Health and Nutrition Tracking Service at WHO. He has lived and worked in several countries including Mozambique, Kenya, and Papua New Guinea. He has published extensively ranging from practical guides and reviews to articles in peer reviewed journals including one of the most popular guides on anthropometry. He has lectured and worked at various universities including Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Tulane, Queensland, Roma Tre, Oxford and others. He has appeared on television news programs and in print as an authority on international nutrition and sustainable diets. He has published in peer reviewed journals and other publications and is the Associate Editor for Nutrition for the Journal for Global Health: Science and Practice.

Fred Brouns, PhD

Maastricht University

Prof Dr. Fred Brouns obtained a PhD in Nutritional Physiology at the Maastricht University in the Netherlands on the Topic "Food and Fluid Related Aspects in Highly Trained athletes" For this work, which included aspects of food and drink consumption, carbohydrate, protein and lipid metabolism during intense physical performance, he was awarded the Dutch Sports Medicine Award. Fred has over 25 years experience in the field of life sciences and health nutrition, headed international R&D functions in the area of Nutrition and Health at Wander Dietetics, Sandoz Nutrition, Novartis Nutrition, Eridania Beghin Say, Cerestar and Cargill Inc. Today he holds a chair in Health Food Innovation at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life and Sciences within the research school NUTRIM (Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism Research Institute Maastricht) of Maastricht University and he is Program director of the international MSc program "Health Food Innovation Management" He has currently a special focus on health and disease aspects of cereals, whole grain and added sugars.

Susan H. Evans, PhD

University of Southern California

Susan H. Evans is Research Scientist at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. She has a long-standing interest in using communication technologies and strategies to improve public health, especially people’s capacity to avoid or manage chronic illnesses. Her current research focuses on developing and testing a mobile phone app to help low-income people use fresh vegetables distributed by food pantries. This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and builds on her years of experience working with food banks across the country, helping more than 150 organizations launch programs to distribute fresh produce. She is an award-winning producer of interactive media tools in health, from such organizations as the Association of Visual Communications and the International Teleconferencing Association. She is co-author (with Peter Clarke) of Surviving Modern Medicine: How to Get the Best from Doctors, Family, and Friends. Evans has been co-PI on research grants from the U.S. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the IBM Corporation, the State of California, the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, and other foundations and agencies. Evans earned her PhD at the University of Michigan.

Howard Moskowitz, PhD

Moskowitz Jacobs Inc.

Howard Moskowitz is the chairman of iNovum, LLC, a new company focusing on increasing science and commerce by understanding ‘the algebra of the mind.' He received his PhD from Harvard University, 1969. Since then he has pioneered research approaches, first as a government scientist, then as an entrepreneur. In 1972 he founded the journal Chemical Senses, and has gone on to publish 24 books, and 300+ articles and conference proceedings. His current work involves a new science he developed, Mind Genomics, the experimental science of the everyday, for which has written/is completing another 20 volumes, an oeuvre called The New Novum Organum.

James O. Hill, PhD

University of Colorado

James O. Hill, PhD is the founding executive director of the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. He holds the Anschutz endowed chair in health and wellness and is also professor of Pediatrics and Medicine. Dr. Hill served as chair of the first World Health Organization Consultation on Obesity in 1997 and was president of both The Obesity Society and the American Society for Nutrition. He helped the NIH develop the first US guidelines for the treatment and prevention of obesity. He has published more than 500 scientific articles and book chapters. Many of these focus on the importance of healthy eating and physical activity in weight management. He is the recipient of awards from the TOS, Centrum Center, McCollum and the ASN. Dr. Hill is a co-founder of the National Weight Control Registry, a registry of individuals who have been successful in maintenance of a reduced body weight. He is co-founder of America on the Move, a national weight gain prevention initiative that aims to inspire Americans to make small changes in how much they eat and how much they move to prevent weight gain. He is also co-author of the Step Diet book (2004) and the State of Slim (2013).

Jodi Kahn

FreshDirect

Jodi Kahn is the Chief Consumer Officer for FreshDirect, where she is responsible for all consumer-facing marketing, including shopping experience and digital/mobile development, driving new marketing platforms and enhancing the company’s insights and database platforms. Previously, Kahn served as President of iVillage, the largest online content community for women at NBC Universal, where she reengineered the business, introduced new revenue/licensing models and transformed the organization’s DNA. Her team developed a powerful insight tool that allowed iVillage to tap into the passions and challenges of everyday women, and ignited the popular “Community Challenges” program to galvanize women around health, education, and finance issues. These initiatives captured national recognition including a deep partnership with the First Lady and the White House. Under Kahn’s leadership, iVillage became a stage for influencers and brands to engage with women around important life issues.

Juan M. Gonzalez, PhD

MBA Mead Johnson

Juan M Gonzalez is an Associate Director and Fellow in Global Product Development at the Pediatric Nutrition Institute at Mead Johnson Nutrition, Evansville, Indiana. Dr. Gonzalez is also an Adjunct Professor at the Food and Nutrition Department of the University of Southern Indiana, Evansville. He obtained a BSc in Chemistry at the National University in Dominican Republic, a MSc in Food Science at The Ohio State University, a MBA at the University of Minnesota, a PhD in Food Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and conducted postdoctoral work at the Biochemical Engineering program of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Gonzalez has over 20 years of international experience in the food industry – R&D, manufacturing and management. His work in Mead Johnson Nutrition has focused on technology innovation for infant and children nutrition.

Kees de Graaf, PhD

Wageningen University

Kees de Graaf is a professor in Sensory Science and Eating Behavior at the Division of Human Nutrition of Wageningen University, the Netherlands. He has a BSc/MSc-training on human nutrition and consumers sciences. In 1988 he defended his PhD-thesis entitled: Psychophysical studies of mixtures of tastants. De Graaf has published about 170 papers in scientific journals, mostly on psycho-biological determinants of eating behaviour. The research and teaching activities focus on the meaning of sensory signals, such as taste, odor, texture, for eating behaviour. His attention focuses on different groups of people (children, elderly, normal weight–overweight people), the effects of properties of food on choice and intake while using modern techniques of measurement (e.g. MRI; behavioural observation techniques). The research lines of his chair group focuses on the meaning of sensory signals for eating behaviour. More specifically: 1) relation between physical chemical properties of food and sensory perception of salt, sugar and fat. 2) the effect of sensory signals on health and wellness, 3) the psychobiology of food reward, and 4) the role of external factors on food intake.

Maria Geraldine Velduizen, PhD

Yale University

During her PhD with Dr. Jan Kroeze at Utrecht University, Maria Veldhuizen was trained as a psychophysicist in taste, smell and flavor perception. Since joining The John B. Pierce Laboratory in 2006, she has combined these skills with neuroimaging of chemosensory perception in humans using fMRI and advanced computational techniques such as network modeling and pattern analysis. She is interested in gustatory encoding, integration of taste and smell, and development of flavor preferences. One focus has been on how the human brain achieves attention to taste and how taste cortex interacts with other cortical areas under attention. She has also worked on the neural commonalities of sweet taste and sweet odors. Lastly she is specifically interested in understanding how the appreciation for a flavor develops by association with calories in humans. In 2010 Marga joined the faculty of The John B. Pierce Laboratory when she was appointed as an associate research scientist. Her future semi-professional ambitions include writing a cookbook and deserving the title neurogastronomist.

Richard Black, PhD

PepsiCo

Richard Black joined PepsiCo in January, 2013 as Vice President of Global R&D Nutrition, leading PepsiCo’s dynamic nutrition team to develop and drive a nutrition strategy that fuels PepsiCo’s innovation and portfolio transformation through nutrition science. Richard and his team work closely with PepsiCo’s sector R&D organizations and the Global Nutrition Group to leverage nutrition science for the PepsiCo brands. Prior to joining PepsiCo, Richard worked for Mondeléz International, where he served as Vice President, Nutrition & Chief Nutrition Officer. He brings a wealth of leadership and technical expertise from the consumer packaged and pharmaceutical industries to PepsiCo. In his twenty year career, Richard has held nutrition and health and wellness leadership positions at Nestle, Kellogg’s, Novartis, and Kraft with a focus on dairy, sports nutrition, and micro/macro ingredients. In addition, Richard was an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, Department of Nutrition Sciences. Richard also served on Health Canada advisory panels, developing policies on health claims and addition of micronutrients in food. He holds his PhD in Psychology of Eating Behavior and has a dual BS degree in Chemistry and Psychology from McMaster University. Richard is a member of the American Society of Nutrition, Institute of Food Technologists, The Obesity Society, as well as various food industry trade associations.

Rick Weiss, MS

Viocare, Inc.

Rick Weiss is the President, Founder, and Chief Wellness Engineer of Viocare, Inc., a healthcare information technology company in Princeton, New Jersey. Viocare researches and develops innovative and scientifically-proven dietary and physical activity assessment and behavioral change systems for researchers, clinicians, and wellness counselors. Mr. Weiss has been the Principal Investigator on 24 National Institutes of Health grants and contracts, valued at over $10 million. These projects have formed the basis of Viocare's products. He has received the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneur of the Year award, the New Jersey Small Business Development Center's success award twice, the YMCA Healthcare Centennial award, and the U.S. Small Business Association Tibbetts Award. This last award honors companies that have made an important and definable difference in advancing technological innovation and economic growth through the stimulus of Small Business Innovation Research funding. Mr. Weiss has presented at numerous major healthcare conferences and published in peer review journals about new techniques for dietary assessments. Rick started his career as an Applied Researcher at Bell Laboratories after receiving a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and Math with honors from Carnegie Mellon University and a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton University.

Richard D. Mattes, MPH, PhD, RD

Purdue University

Dr. Mattes is a Distinguished Professor of Nutrition Science at Purdue University, Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine and Affiliated Scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center. His research focuses on the areas of hunger and satiety, regulation of food intake in humans, food preferences, human cephalic phase responses and taste and smell. At Purdue University, Dr. Mattes is the Director of the Ingestive Behavior Research Center and Chair of the Biomedical and Community Human Subjects Review Committees. He also holds numerous external responsibilities including: Associate editor of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition; editorial board of Chemosensory Perception, Ear, Nose and Throat Journal and Flavour. He is also Secretary of the Rose Marie Pangborn Sensory Science Scholarship Fund. He has received multiple awards, most recently the Babcock-Hart Award from the Institute of Food Technologists. He has authored over 225 publications. Dr. Mattes earned an undergraduate degree in biology and a Masters degree in Public Health from the University of Michigan as well as a doctorate degree in Human Nutrition from Cornell University. He conducted post-doctoral studies at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Monell Chemical Senses Center.

Sanjiv Avashia, MS

Tate and Lyle

Sanjiv Avashia is employed with Tate & Lyle for 18 years. As a Senior Food Scientist, he specializes in confectionery and snack applications, with expertise in texturants, sweeteners and wellness ingredients. He has over 25 years of food industry experience covering food product development and technical services.

Serena C. Lo, PhD

U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Serena Lo is a Consumer Science Specialist in the Division of Public Health Informatics & Analytics of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. She has a BS in cell and molecular biology from the University of Washington and a PhD in applied social psychology from the George Washington University. Since joining the FDA in 2010, Dr. Lo has worked on issues related to food labeling and consumer understanding of nutrition labels, diet-related diseases, and dietary supplement claims and disclaimers. Dr. Lo's activities have included developing, conducting, and advising on survey research design, administration, analysis, and interpretation with a particular emphasis on the use of experimental designs for examining consumer responses to food and dietary supplement labels.