Panelists:
Robin McKinnon PhD, Senior Advisor for Nutrition Policy, Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition, U.S. Food & Drug Administration

Sylvia Rowe, Owner, SR Strategy, Adjunct Professor Tufts and University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Taylor Wallace, PhD, CFS, FACN, Principal & CEO Think Healthy Group, Adjunct Professor George Mason University                           

Moderator:

Anna Rosales, RD, Senior Director Government Affairs & Nutrition, Institute of Food Technology.

White House Conference Pillars

1. Improve food access and affordability: End hunger by making it easier for everyone — including urban, suburban, rural, and Tribal communities — to access and afford food. For example, expand eligibility for and increase participation in food assistance programs and improve transportation to places where food is available.
2. Integrate nutrition and health: Prioritize the role of nutrition and food security in overall health, including disease prevention and management, and ensure that our health care system addresses the nutrition needs of all people.
3. Empower all consumers to make and have access to healthy choices: Foster environments that enable all people to easily make informed healthy choices, increase access to healthy food, encourage healthy workplace and school policies, and invest in public messaging and education campaigns that are culturally appropriate and resonate with specific communities.
4. Support physical activity for all: Make it easier for people to be more physically active (in part by ensuring that everyone has access to safe places to be active), increase awareness of the benefits of physical activity, and conduct research on and measure physical activity.
5. Enhance nutrition and food security research: Improve nutrition metrics, data collection, and research to inform nutrition and food security policy, particularly on issues of equity, access, and disparities.

Related Resources:

• Looking for highlights of the WHC?  Check out Food Technology’s digital exclusives on each pillar here.
• Want to hear what IFT members had to say about the WHC pillars? See key takeaways from our member listening session here.  
• Wondering what IFT is doing related to the WHC? See our WHC Partner commitments here.

Speaker and Panelist Biographies:

Dr. Sara Bleich, PhD

Dr. Sara Bleich is the Director of Nutrition Security and Health Equity in the Food and Nutrition Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), after serving as the Senior Advisor for COVID-19 in the Office of the Secretary at USDA (2021). She is a policy expert and researcher who specializes in diet-related diseases, food insecurity and racial inequality with more than 180 peer-reviewed publications. She is on leave from her post as a Professor of Public Health Policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Kennedy School of Government, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Dr. Bleich was also a White House Fellow during the Obama administration, where she worked at USDA as a Senior Policy Adviser for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services and with the First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Initiative. She holds degrees from Columbia (BA, Psychology) and Harvard (PhD, Health Policy). 

Dr. Taylor C. Wallace, PhD, CFS, FACN

Dr. Taylor C. Wallace, is Principal and CEO at the Think Healthy Group and a Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at George Mason University.  His academic research interests are in the area of nutritional interventions to promote health and prevent the onset of chronic disease.  Dr. Wallace has a PhD an MS in Food Science and Nutrition from The Ohio State University and a BS in Food Science from the University of Kentucky.  He operates the popular food and nutrition blog, www.DrTaylorWallace.com, is a member of Forbes Health Advisory Board, and a regular guest commentator in the mainstream media, regularly seen on the Dr. Oz Show, The Doctors, CBS, The Good Dish, and NBC4 Washington. He is a fellow of the American College of Nutrition and is the 2015 recipient of the Charles A. Regus Award, given by the American College of Nutrition for original research and innovation in the field of nutrition.  Dr. Wallace is a Senior Fellow of the Center for Magnesium Education & Research, the Editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Dietary Supplements, Deputy Editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Nutrition Section Editor of Annals of Medicine, the editor of seven academic textbooks, author of over 75 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters, and author of the cookbook, Sizzling Science.  The Huffington post calls Dr. Taylor Wallace “the nation’s premier food and nutrition guru.”

Sylvia Rowe

Sylvia Rowe is currently president of SR Strategy which addresses the science to communications to policy continuum on a broad range of global food system issues including agriculture, food, nutrition and sustainability.  She is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.

Rowe is a current member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Health and Medicine Division (HMD) Food Forum (former Chair), Food and Nutrition Board and the Roundtable on Obesity Solutions. She also served on the National Academies’ Science of Science Communications:  A Research Agenda Consensus Committee.

Rowe is a Contributing Editor and columnist of Nutrition Today, serves on the Tuft’s Nutrition Advisory Council and has been recognized as an Honorary Member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND).  She currently serves on the AND Foundation Board of Trustees.  Additionally, she was one of the authors of “Best practices in nutrition science to earn and keep the public’s trust”, an American Society of Nutrition (ASN) initiative.

Previously Sylvia served as president and chief executive officer of the International Food Information Council (IFIC) and IFIC Foundation, in Washington, DC.

Rowe received a Bachelor's Degree from Wellesley College and was awarded a Masters’ Degree from Harvard University, both with honors.

Dr. Robin McKinnon, PhD

Dr. Robin McKinnon is a Senior Advisor for Nutrition Policy at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN). Dr. McKinnon works to advance FDA’s nutrition initiatives across CFSAN. Prior to joining FDA, Dr. McKinnon was a Health Policy Specialist at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health. At NCI, Dr. McKinnon led policy-relevant research activities on diet, obesity and physical activity. Dr. McKinnon has a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from the George Washington University and a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University.