USAID Announces Appointment of New Chief Nutritionist

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) welcomes Dr. Patrick Webb as the new Chief Nutritionist. In this role, Dr. Webb will serve as USAID’s principal nutritionist and top expert on nutrition policy and analysis. Dr. Webb’s arrival comes at a critical time. One hundred and fifty-one million children are stunted and healthy diets are unaffordable for over 40 percent of the world’s population, or 3.1 billion people.

Dr. Webb will elevate the use of evidence across the Agency’s operations and programs, integrate behavioral science and experimental design into USAID’s work, and strengthen USAID’s efforts to address food security and nutrition that affect our global programming.

Nutrition plays a central role in so much of USAID’s work. As part of the commitment to helping the Agency’s resources have their greatest and most sustainable impact, Dr. Webb will also provide assistance, resources, and tools to help USAID staff – across the diverse fields they work in – incorporate best practices, research methodology, and behavioral insights into programming and decision-making.

Dr. Webb most recently held the prestigious endowed McFarlane Chair in the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. From 2003 to 2005, he was Chief of Nutrition for the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), responsible for strategic oversight of, and technical input to, WFP’s many activities focused on tackling malnutrition. He was a member of the Maternal and Child Nutrition Study Group that oversaw the 2013 Lancet Series on nutrition, considered the authoritative analysis for promoting nutrition. Dr. Webb’s position on the steering committee of the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) of the World Committee on Food Security (CFS) was recently renewed for a second term. He is one of 24 commissioners for EAT-Lancet 2.0 and involved in the Food Systems Countdown to 2030 Initiative. Previously, he was a member of the Independent Science and Partnership Council (ISPC) of the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR) and played a role in the World Economic Forum’s Global Futures Council on Food and Agriculture.  Dr. Webb was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1981 and is currently a Scientist Member of the American Society for Nutrition.