US FDA taps Mayne to head Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, boost science focus

Dr Mayne is currently the C.-E.A. Winslow Professor of Epidemiology and chair, department of chronic disease epidemiology at Yale University’s School of Public Health, as well as associate director of the Yale Cancer Center. During her 26-year career, Dr Mayne has become internationally known not only for her research in the nutritional epidemiology of chronic diseases, but also as an outstanding administrator and coalition builder, FDA said in a statement. CFSAN shifts its focus Whereas Mr Landa is an attorney, Dr Mayne’s work has been focused “on issues of critical importance to FDA and public health, such as the role of diet, nutrition and obesity in chronic disease risk,” the FDA statement said. Noting that the FDA Foods and Veterinary Medicine Program is “transforming the food safety system and taking new steps to address chronic disease and obesity,” FDA’s statement said Mayne “will work closely with the Program to engage consumers, industry, and the general public.” Mayne and her CFSAN team will also work “to enhance the scientific underpinnings of policy,” according to the statement. Research and accomplishments At Yale, Dr Mayne directs a pre-doctoral training program — in partnership with the National Cancer Institute — that trains students in modern methods for evaluating food, nutrition, and other lifestyle factors as determinants of human cancer risk. In recent years, Mayne has addressed difficult problems like the use of biomarkers in nutrition research, dose-response relationships for nutrients in disease, and the healthfulness of foods being marketed to children, FDA said in a statement. Mayne has also worked with agencies like USDA to develop practical applications of research, and with state legislators to pass public health bills. Dr Mayne recently completed two consecutive terms on the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences, and a 5-year term on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Cancer Institute. She is a fellow of both the American College of Epidemiology and the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women.

US FDA taps Mayne to head Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, boost science focus

The FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) will begin the new year with a new director and a new direction. Public health scientist Susan Mayne will take over from Michael Landa in January 2015.

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