2024 Rachel Carson Lecture by Jessica Fanzo

Jessica Fanzo delivers lecture "The importance of evidence and data to hold a spotlight on food systems" as one of the 2024 Rachel Carson Distinguished Anniversary Lecture Series on Oct 17.

Abstract: We are living in a crowded, complex time of global challenges – climate change and environmental degradation, mounting social upheaval and inequities, and increasing public health and food insecurity risks. Food systems sit at the center of these challenges and are considered part of the problem, but can also be a solution.

At a time when facts, evidence, and data are under ever greater scrutiny and even openly disregarded as suspect by some political and business leaders, the rigors of science and evidence must be maintained. Data and research can bring about wholesale changes in attitudes, political thought, and action and have a vital role in charting a positive and sustainable direction for positive food system transformation.

In this seminar, we will discuss how evidence and data can help navigate decision-makers out of the dark and shed light on how to improve food systems. Professor Fanzo will highlight some of the larger collaborations her team has initiated, including the Food Systems Dashboard and the Food Systems Countdown to 2030 Initiative.

Jessica Fanzo, Ph.D., is a Professor of Climate and the Director of the Food for Humanity Action Collaborative at Columbia University’s Climate School in New York City. Before coming to Columbia in 2023, Professor Fanzo was the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Global Food Policy and Ethics at Johns Hopkins University. She has also held positions at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN), the UN World Food Programme, Bioversity International, the Earth Institute, the Millennium Development Goal Centre at the World Agroforestry Center in Kenya, and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. She has participated in various collective endeavors, including the Food Systems Economic Commission, the Global Panel of Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition Foresight 2.0 report, the Lancet Commission on Anaemia, and the EAT-Lancet Commissions 1 and now 2. She was also the Co-Chair of the Global Nutrition Report and Team Leader for the UN High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Systems and Nutrition. She currently leads the development of the Food Systems Dashboard and the Food Systems Countdown to 2030 Initiative in collaboration with the Global Alliance of Improved Nutrition. Professor Fanzo received a PhD in nutrition from the University of Arizona and Stephen I. Morse postdoctoral fellowship in Immunology in the Department of Molecular Medicine at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons. Professor Fanzo became an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2024 and was the first laureate of the Carasso Foundation’s Sustainable Diets Prize in 2012 for her research on sustainable food and diets for long-term human health.