June 4, 2003
AMES, Iowa — The dean of Iowa State University's College of Agriculture has been appointed chair of a national board that studies issues surrounding the safety and adequacy of the U.S. food supply.
Catherine Woteki will serve a three-year term as chair of the Food and Nutrition Board, which is a unit of the Institute of Medicine. The institute is part of the National Academy of Sciences.
The board receives funding from federal agencies and others to study food and nutrition issues. Its widely disseminated reports have provided government, industry, academia and the general public with information and recommendations on food safety, food security and nutrition. The Food and Nutrition Board is a multidisciplinary group of biomedical scientists with expertise in nutrition, food science, biochemistry, medicine, public health, epidemiology, food toxicology and food safety.
Woteki was elected to the institute in 1998. Institute members are elected on the basis of their professional achievement and serve without compensation.
Woteki joined the ISU College of Agriculture as dean in January 2002. Prior to 2002, she held the appointments of senior research scientist with the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Maryland and professor of nutrition and food safety at the University of Nebraska.
Her extensive government experience includes service as USDA undersecretary for food safety and USDA deputy undersecretary for research, education, and economics, as well as leadership positions in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President and the National Center for Health Statistics in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Woteki received a bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry from Mary Washington College and master's degree and doctorate in human nutrition from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.