Dr Sandro Demaio is a medical doctor and globally-renowned public health expert and advocate.

Sandro previously worked for the World Health Organization and was CEO of the EAT Foundation. He also co-founded the NCDFREE global social movement and established a not-for-profit foundation to improve the health and nutrition of Australian kids.

Sandro has published many scientific journal articles and is author of the Doctor’s Diet cookbook. He also co-hosts the ABC television and Netflix show Ask the Doctor.

Alexander Müller served as a city councillor in Marburg, as State Secretary and member of Parliament in Hessen/Germany, and as State Secretary for Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture for Germany’s Federal Government. From 2006 until 2013, Müller served as the Assistant Director-General of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and was responsible for the FAO’s work on Land and Water, Climate Change, and Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. He was a member of the UN Secretary-Generals Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change (AGECC) in 2009 and has served the Chair of the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN). Müller is also involved in Germany’s green energy transition, known as the “Energiewende“. Since 2014 Müller has served as the study leader for TEEBAgriFood and as the Managing Director of TMG – Think Tank for Sustainability.

Alison Blay-Palmer, the UNESCO Chair in Food Biodiversity and Sustainability Studies, is the founding Director for the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems and a Professor in Geography and Environmental Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. Her research and teaching combine her passions for sustainable food systems and community viability through civil society engagement and innovative governance. Alison collaborates with academics and practitioners across Canada and internationally including partners in Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, South Africa, and the United States. This work gained recognition in both 2012 and 2019 when her partnership was one of three nominees for a national SSHRC Partnership Impact Award. Other on-going research projects with partners and students include: City Region Food System, Climate Resilience with the Resources Centre on Urban Agriculture and Food Security (RUAF) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); and food security, health and climate change in the Northwest Territories. Alison has been a member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists since 2016.

Andrew is an agriculturalist at heart with a passion for food and nutrition. Working across the food system, Andrew has worn many hats from field hand to biotechnologist, commercial seed producer to food export strategist, and now, a value chain analyst at ripe.io- a leader in the agrifood blockchain space. A big picture thinker who is not afraid to roll up his sleeves to scout a field or run a statistical analysis; Andrew is excited to use his 10+ years of experience in the food system to drive ripe’s mission- enabling participants to improve trust and transparency in their supply chain.

Andrew Thorne-Lyman, ScD, MHS, joined the center as Affiliated Faculty in 2019. He is an associate scientist at the Center for Human Nutrition in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In his role at The Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, Andrew provides expertise on human nutrition, including in the context of seafood consumption, and he brings an international health background to the Center, as well. Before coming to Johns Hopkins in 2016, he was a senior nutrition specialist and team leader at The WorldFish Center (Malaysia), a lecturer at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a director of nutrition research at the Earth Institute, Columbia University. He has also served in various capacities at the UN World Food Programme (Rome) and Helen Keller International (Bangladesh). Current research interests include exploring the role of fish in meeting the nutritional needs of vulnerable populations in low and middle income countries, particularly of young children, studying links between food systems, diet and nutrition and health outcomes, and the development and validation of indicators to measure the effectiveness of nutrition programs. Andrew earned his BA at Pomona College, his MHS at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and his ScD at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Angie Tagtow is the Founder and Chief Strategist of Äkta Strategies, a consulting firm that designs authentic solutions for systems change. She has more than 25 years of experience working at local, state, federal, and international levels in agriculture, food, and nutrition policy; public health; and food and water systems. In 2014, she was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as the Executive Director for the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion in which she co-led the development and launch of the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Angie is a registered dietitian and served as a Senior Fellow and Endowed Chair at the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, and as a Food and Society Policy Fellow with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. She was the founder and CEO of a successful consulting firm that provided program and policy development, strategic planning, capacity building, communication, and education services to diverse clients that worked toward advancing sustainable, resilient, and healthy food and water systems. She co-founded a non-profit focused on health and food systems in addition to forming a statewide community of practice that promoted evidence-based strategies to increase access to healthful food. Angie has served in professional leadership positions within the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Iowa Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior, and the American Public Health Association. In addition to launching the Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition in 2005 in which she served as the managing editor for 11 years, she has published numerous peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and reports. Angie has been honored by many organizations for her leadership and professional contributions to nutrition, public health, and food systems. Angie is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health. She is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa and Iowa State University and resides on a reconstructed tallgrass prairie in central Iowa.

Anne Palmer, MAIA is a program director at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future and an associate scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Department of Health, Behavior and Society. She directs the Food Policy Networks project, which seeks to improve the capacity food policy councils and similar organizations to advance food system policies. Ms. Palmer’s research interests include food retail, food policy and food policy councils, food environments, obesity, urban agriculture, local and regional food systems, and community food security. Prior to joining CLF, Palmer worked for the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs for 13 years developing and managing strategic communication plans and large-scale health communication campaigns and programs in Asia.

Becky is a senior program officer at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, where she oversees research, communication, evaluation and programming that facilitate a shift toward sustainable, healthy diets that are plant-forward and lower in meat. She is primarily responsible for managing the Center’s science advisory role with the Meatless Monday Campaign.

Prior to joining the CLF, Becky worked as a Technical Advisor for Nutrition and Food Security to projects in Afghanistan and Ethiopia, helping women produce and utilize food for family consumption and income generation. She also worked as a nutrition consultant for community, worksite, and school-based programs developing and implementing health and nutrition curricula.

Becky studied nutrition at the University of California, Davis and became a registered dietitian in 1990. She received her Master in Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 1999. She worked clinically and then internationally developing a clinic-based diabetes nutrition education program in Tanzania. Throughout her career, Becky has worked in the nutrition/public health field focusing on helping individuals and organizations make healthful, lifestyle choices that are evidence based, relevant, and sustainable.

Bela Gil is a chef, nutritionist, activist and author of 5 bestselling books in Brazil. Her career has spanned many fields: food, television and media, healthcare, women’s rights, public policy, and education. Underlying her work is the belief that a life of quality should be a right for everyone. More than that, she works towards a future where we are not only surviving, but thriving. She graduated with a BS in Nutrition from Hunter College and a diploma in Culinary Art’s from the Natural Gourmet Institute, both in New York. In 2019 she got a Master degree of Gastronomy at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy.