Marion Nestle

Marion Nestle is Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, at New York University. Also, she is Visiting Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell.

Her previous faculty positions were at Brandeis University and the UCSF School of Medicine. From 1986 to 1988, she was a senior nutrition policy advisor in the Department of Health and Human Services and editor of the 1988 Surgeon General’s Report on Nutrition and Health. Her research examines scientific and socioeconomic influences on food choice, obesity, and food safety, emphasizing the role of food industry influence.

Nestle is the author of several books: Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health, Safe Food: The Politics of Food Safety, Why Calories Count: From Science to Politics, Eat, Drink Vote: An Illustrated Guide to Food Politics, What to Eat, etc.

Among her recent honors are the John Dewey Award for Distinguished Public Service from Bard College in 2010, the Public Health Hero award from the University of California School of Public Health at Berkeley in 2011, the James Beard Foundation Leadership Award in 2013, and the Innovator of the Year Award from the U.S. Healthful Food Council, and the Public Health Association of New York City’s Media Award in 2014.

Marion holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology and an M.P.H. in public health nutrition from the University of California, Berkeley. Also, she has been awarded honorary degrees from Transylvania University in Kentucky and the City University of New York’s Macaulay Honors College.