On December 8, 2011, Robert Gravani, PhD was elected Chair of the International Food Information Council Foundation. Dr. Gravani, a leading food safety expert in the US, is a Professor of Food Science and Director of National Agricultural Practices at Cornell University, and immediate past president of the Institute of Food Technologists.
“We are very excited to welcome Dr. Gravani as our new Chair,” said David Schmidt, IFIC Foundation President and CEO. “His wealth of experience on communicating the science of food will help further position the IFIC Foundation as a top resource for journalists, health professionals, government leaders and others.”
Dr. Gravani assumes the role from Nancy Wellman, PhD, RD, FADA, who was the IFIC Foundation’s first and only Chair of its Board of Trustees since the Foundation’s inception in 1991. Dr. Wellman led a multitude of projects at the IFIC Foundation from the launch of the Foundation’s signature Food and Health Survey, now in its sixth year, to the development of the Foundation’s award winning website FoodInsight.org and companion Spanish-language website. She now moves to Chair Emeritus, and will continue to contribute her expertise as a nutrition communicator to further the Foundation’s mission.
“Dr. Wellman’s leadership and perspective as a nutrition communicator has made the IFIC Foundation a go-to resource for science-based nutrition and food safety information and consumer insights,” said Schmidt. “We look forward to having Nancy’s continued advice as our Chair Emeritus.”
A majority of the IFIC Foundation Board of Trustees is comprised of public members who represent universities, government, quasi-governmental bodies, research institutions, nonprofit organizations or similar entities. Other newly elected trustee officers include Jeanne P. Goldberg, PhD, RD, Vice Chair, Professor at the Center on Nutrition Communication at Tufts University and Nancy M. Childs, Ph.D., Secretary, Professor and Chair, Department of Food Marketing at Saint Joseph’s University. Newly elected at-large trustees include Rhona Applebaum, PhD, The Coca-Cola Company; Lowell Catlett, PhD, New Mexico State University; Madelyn Fernstrom, PhD, CNS, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; and Steve Rizk, PhD, Mars, Inc.