The Food and Drug Administration announced today that in January 2014, Dr. Susan T. Mayne will be the new director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition as of January 2015, taking over from Michael M. Landa, who is retiring. Dr. Mayne is a scientists and public health leader who has been trained in nutrition, toxicology, and epidemiology.
She is currently the C.-E.A. Winslow Professor of Epidemiology and Chair, Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, and the Associate Director of Yale Cancer Center. She has worked with state legislators to pass public health bills and has conducted research into food, nutrition, and obesity as determinants of chronic disease risk. She is the author of more than 200 scientific publications.
Dr. Mayne completed two 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 U.S. National Cancer Institute. She has written about the use of biomarkers in nutrition research, dose-response relationships for nutrients in disease, and the health qualities of foods marketed to children.
CFSAN is responsible for “promoting and protecting the public’s health by ensuring that the nation’s food supply is safe, sanitary, wholesome, and honestly labeled, and that cosmetic products are safe and properly labeled.” They are responsible for the safety of additives put into food, the safety of foods developed through biotechnology, regulations on the proper labeling of foods, regulations about the safety of dietary supplements, infant formulas, and medical foods, and food industry postmarked surveillance and compliance.
