Board of Directors and Governance

All of the IUFoST Board Members have distinguished careers related to food science and technology, extensive governance experience, and a comprehensive knowledge of IUFoST, its Adhering Bodies, and the Union’s Mission and Vision.

AMAN WIRAKARTAKUSUMAH

President, Indonesia

Aman Wirakartakusumah, IUFoST President, is a scientific leader, experienced administrator, a diplomat at the highest levels internationally and is known as a person who is dedicated to service above self who brings people and viewpoints together. Dr. Wirakartakusumah has a strong grasp of IUFoST’s issues and is committed, passionate and has unbounded drive in everything he does for the Union. He was Indonesian Ambassador to UNESCO, Rector of two Indonesian universities, and highly‐regarded chair of IUFoST’s Education Committee and the World Bank‐initiated Global Food Safety Curricula Initiative. He is a member of the Indonesia Academy of Sciences, has led Indonesia in establishing educational standards and is actively engaged with ASEAN/APEC countries in implementing food safety policies, measures and educational standardisation.  He is immediate Past President of the International Acadmey of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST).

Prof. Aman has received numerous awards in his country and from around the world and is known and universally respected by many IUFoST Adhering Bodies. As Education Committee Chair, his advocacy for IUFoST demonstrated his interest in the welfare of young food scientists.

Prof. Aman’s experience, leadership and diplomatic skills will significantly contribute to IUFoST by strengthening the science, collaboration with international bodies, and generating the inclusiveness needed to successfully fulfill IUFoST’s mission and vision.

SAMUEL GODEFROY

President Elect, Canada

Samuel Godefroy is the former Director General of Health Canada’s Food Directorate, Canada’s Food Standard Setting body and a former Vice Chair of the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission. Professor. Godefroy assumed senior food regulatory positions at the executive level with Health Canada for over 15 years. Prof. Godefroy is the founder and the current president of the Global Food Regulatory Science Society,  (GFoRSS) a non-for-profit organization, aiming to promote food regulatory science disciplines at the international level. Samuel is currently Full Professor of Food Risk Analysis and Regulatory Policies in the Department of Food Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada and is leading the development of a Food Risk Analysis and Regulatory Excellence Platform (PARERA), hosted by the Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods (INAF) of Université Laval. Prof. Godefroy currently serves as a senior food science and regulatory expert on a number of advisory bodies and committees domestically and internationally, including on the International Advisory Committee of the China Centre for Food Safety Risk Assessment (CFSA). Prof. Godefroy also serves as a strategic and operational advisor to international food safety capacity building initiatives focused on regulatory enhancement, implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). He is a Fellow of IAFoST and co-chair of the IUFoST Codex Committee.

VISH PRAKASH

Past President, India
 

Vish Prakash is Immediate Past President of IUFoST; former Distinguished Scientist of CSIR India; Former Director of CFTRI Mysore;  Dr. Prakash is Past President of IAFoST; Chair of the IUFoST World Congress in Mumbai 2018; Vice President of IUFoST Sister Union – International Union of Nutritional Sciences; Founding Chairman of IFRIFANS, India, the International Foundation for Research in Food and Nutrition Security; member of numerous scientific publication boards; Chairman India Region of European Hygienic Engineering Design Group, Germany; Member, Global Phytonutrient Society (GPS) Tokyo, Japan; Elected to the IUFoST Board of Directors in  2018 and confirmed President of IUFoST 2020-2022.

PAVINEE CHINACHOTI

Member, Thailand

Pavinee Chinachoti, Ph.D. graduated in Food Science, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA. She joined the Department of Food Science at Univ. of Massachusetts in 1986. Her core strengths are in food shelf-life extension, marine oils, pet food, starch and bakery technology, health, and functional foods.

She has over 80 papers published in peer-reviewed journals, over 100 abstracts and presentations, about 30 book chapters and proceedings. She joined Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc. Over 6 years she produced 6 patents, several product launch supports and Colgate’s Chairman You Can Make a Difference Award (global award). She received Outstanding Professor award from NE IFT (Institute of Food Technologist, Eastern Conference), Outstanding Advisor Award (College of Food and Natural Resources, Univ. of Massachusetts), etc.

She was Chemistry Leader in the Global Innovation Incubator (GII) of Thai Union Frozen Products. She was the past President of Food Science and Technology Association of Thailand (FoSTAT).

She is acting as Advisory board of FoSTAT, Chair of Food Innovation and Regulation Network (FIRN) project and joining the National Food and agriculture committee of many government agencies in Thailand. She is member of Fellows of IAFoST 2022 and chair of GOIR working group of IUFoST.

 

ALEJANDRA MEDRANO

Member, Uruguay

Alejandra Medrano is a Research Scientist and Professor in the Chemistry Faculty, Universidad de la República (UdelaR) Uruguay.

She is a researcher for the National Agency for Research and Innovation - ANII and for the Basic Sciences Development Program (PEDECIBA). She received her PhD in Chemistry from UdelaR in 2009. Since 2012, she has been the Head of Laboratory of Bioactivity and Nanotechnology of Food at the Department of Food Science and Technology, Udelar.

She has published more than 100 articles in indexed journals and communications in national/international conferences and she has also published 4 book chapters. She has been a main researcher in more than 20 projects funded by different agencies and industries.

As a professor of the Udelar, she is a member of the commission of the Food Science and Technology postgraduate. Participating in 5 undergraduate and 6 postgraduate courses. In the last ten years, she has supervised more than 15 endof-Degree Projects and 5 post-graduate Theses.

She is Past President of the Latin-American and Caribbean Association of Food Science and Technology (ALACCTA) 2019-2022, present member of the ALACCTA Board and representative of Latin-American AOAC. Organizing more than 20 scientific events online and 5 Congress in Uruguay of the Food Science and Technology and Food Engineering. She is Director of the engineering program of UdelaR- Universidad de la República (Uruguay).

MITSUTOSHI NAKAJIMA

Member, Japan

Mitsutoshi Nakajima received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tokyo, Japan. He worked on chemical engineering projects in Kyushu University, moved to National Food Research Institute and University of Tsukuba (2007–present), specializing food science and engineering. He has been also involved in Alliance on Research for the Mediterranean and North Africa (ARENA) since 2007, in which he was ARENA Director for 6 years. He has developed microchannel emulsification technology for monosized droplets production, and the laboratory scale equipment is commercially available. He has published about 450 original scientific articles and received several awards from academic societies and Minister of MEXT, Japan. Currently he is Specially Appointed Professor, University of Tsukuba, Japan. He also contributes as Project Manager of Moonshot Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research and Development Project entitled “Development of Innovative Food Solution for Simultaneous Food Loss Reduction and QoL Improvement”.

CHEIKH NDIAYE

Member, Senegal

Cheikh Ndiaye as the first Fellow of the UNU received a PhD and Advanced Certificate for Research and Development in Food Technology and Post-Harvest Conservation and Processing with management and marketing skills .Fluent in French , English and Spanish .He started his career at the Institute of Food Technology in Senegal as chairman and project coordinator food packaging and quality control ,acted in several management positions in Research and Development and taught at the University of Dakar and at the ITC /UN -Helsinki School of Economics -Program Development Cooperation in food safety , food sanitation , food quality , fermentation industries and conservation of processed foods and beverages . After a long and successful collaboration became consultant and inter regional coordinator of activities in food , biotechnology and nutrition of the joint partners UN/ECA-ARCT-WHO, UNU/AAU-EEC , UNCTAD, UNDP, UNIDO and various sub regional organizations.

To assist FAO, organize the ICN and the WFS …. , Dr Ndiaye joined as a Senior Regional Food Policy and Nutrition and served as coordinator of various technical programs such as the Codex Alimentarius and Infoods /Afro Foods coupled with managerial and technical support for management of the FAO Regional Office for Africa ..Group Leader , Technical Team Coordinator Overall Technical Teams Coordinator and Member of the Regional Management Team .

Since 2010, in collaboration and support of colleagues and partners organized the Food Information Council for Africa /the African Food and Agriculture Skills Development center /and more recently after being associated to IUFoST and IAFoST as Fellow of the Institute and Academy , initiated the Senegalese Institute of Food Science and Technology (SenIFoST). All with training facilities and headquarters in Dakar and collaborative partners in Accra benefit from a wide database and cooperative networks in food.

 

PINGFAN RAO

Member, China

Pingfan Rao is Honorary Vice President of the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST) and Professor and Director of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) Shanghai Institutes of Biological Sciences (SIBS)-Zhejiang Gongshang University Joint Center of Food and Nutrition Research. Professor Dr. Rao chairs the food division of Chinese National Committee for Future Earth (CNC-FE), a committee of the International Science Council (ISC) and is editor-in-chief of Science of Food, a Nature Partner Journal.  Dr. Rao received B.Eng from Fuzhou University of China, MS from Hiroshima University and PhD from Osaka University of Japan. He is a fellow of International Academy of Food Science and Technology.  Dr. Rao, Past President IUFoST, was elected to the IUFoST Board again in August 2020.

DECLAN TROY

Member, Ireland

Declan J. Troy is the Assistant Director of Research, Teagasc – The Irish Agriculture and Development Authority. He also is Director of Technology and Knowledge Transfer for the Teagasc Food Programme and is Head of the Teagasc Ashtown Food Research Centre.

During this career he has published over 150 scientific peer reviewed publications, books, book chapters and scientific articles, mainly in the area of meat quality. The main focus of his research is on the biochemistry of muscle proteins and their role in meat tenderness. Declan has always encouraged the up-take of science-based innovations by the food industry and has interacted widely with the sector to this end. His work has contributed to the introduction of new technologies at industrial level particularly in Ireland's competitive beef sector. In 2017 he was awarded the American Meat Science Association’s International Award. He has collaborated in his research programme with many different research groups from Europe and all around the world including Australia, Korea, New Zealand, Uruguay, China, Brazil and of course the USA.

Declan has fostered highly successful international collaborations and exchange of knowledge in food science by coordinating EU and nationally funded research projects worth more than €90 million that supported 135 PhD students globally in different laboratories at collaborating institutions. Most recently, he has been appointed as the Director of the National Consumer Food Centre in Teagasc funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Declan sits on many national and international committees formulating research priorities in food science and advising state agencies and companies. He is currently a member of the UNECE Working Group on Meat Quality. He was Chairman of the World Congress of Food Science and Technology 2016 (IUFoST 2016) in Dublin in his capacity as President of the Institute of Food Science and Technology of Ireland (2016 - present). He has also been appointed (2019) as head of the International Secretariat of the International Congress of Meat Science and Technology (ICoMST) of which he was chair both in 2006 (Dublin) and 2017 (Cork) and he is the Academic Leader of Meat Technology Ireland (MTI) a €20m meat industry led research and innovation programme.

CHARLES AWORH

Charles Aworh is a member of the Board in his position as Academy President. His biography can be found here -  Academy Executive Council page.

HONGDA CHEN

Hongda Chen is a member of the board in his position as Scientific Council Chair. His biography can be found here - Scientific Council page.

JUDITH MEECH

Judith Meech is IUFoST Secretary-General and a non-voting member of the Board.