Marion Nestle, a food policy expert and public health advocate, will share her experience bridging research, policy and public engagement in a talk, “Food Politics: An Agenda for 2024.” 

The event, part of the Joyce Lindower Wolitzer ’76 and Steven Wolitzer Nutrition Seminar from the Division of Nutrition Sciences in the College of Human Ecology, will be held April 18, from 4:45-6:30 p.m. in 700 Clark Hall. Nestle’s lecture will include a panel discussion with students, followed by a book signing.

Nestle is the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health Emerita at New York University; she is also a visiting professor of nutritional sciences at Cornell. Her research examines scientific and socioeconomic influences on food choice, obesity and food safety, emphasizing the role of food marketing. 

Originally trained in molecular biology, Nestle joined the biology faculty at Brandeis University in 1974. She was assigned to teach a course in nutrition, an experience that sparked a lifelong passion. In an article published nearly four decades later, The Village Voice called her “one of the key voices in food policy, nutrition, and food education in this country.” 

Nestle was associate dean of the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine from 1976-86, then served as a senior nutrition policy adviser in the Department of Health and Human Services from 1986-88. She was the editor of the 1988 Surgeon General’s Report on Nutrition and Health. Nestle was chair of NYU’s Department of Nutrition and Food Studies from 1988 to 2003. She retired in 2017.  

Nestle is a prolific writer on food and nutrition. Her books include “Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health” (2002), “What to Eat” (2006) and “Slow Cooked: An Unexpected Life in Food Policy” (2022). She wrote a monthly column, Food Matters, in the San Francisco Chronicle from 2008-13, and still shares her thoughts regularly on her website, foodpolitics.com. 

She has won Bard College’s John Dewey Award for Distinguished Public Service, the James Beard Foundation Leadership Award, the Trailblazer Award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals, and the Edinburgh Medal. She has a doctorate and a master of public health degree from the University of California, Berkeley. 

The Joyce Lindower Wolitzer ’76 and Steven Wolitzer Nutrition Seminar is dedicated to bringing to campus a nationally renowned speaker, innovator or leader in nutrition for the benefit of undergraduate students. 

Emily Groff is assistant director of communications for the College of Human Ecology.