Jessica Fanzo

Jessica Fanzo is the James Anderson Professor of Food Policy and Climate at the Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Europe in Bologna Italy. Her transdisciplinary research discerns and analyzes the connections between climate change and food systems in nutrition- and climate-vulnerable communities living in resource-constrained settings to identify and explore opportunities within food systems to enhance diet, nutrition, and environmental outcomes.  She currently leads the development of the Food Systems Dashboard and the Food Systems Countdown to 2030 Initiative. Fanzo serves as the Nutrition and Climate thematic leader for the Executive Committee of the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement, and the Integrated Partnership Board of the CGIAR. Professor Fanzo became an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2024. Before coming to Columbia in 2023, Professor Fanzo was the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Global Food Policy and Ethics at Johns Hopkins University. She has also held positions at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN), the UN World Food Programme, Bioversity International, the Earth Institute, the Millennium Development Goal Centre at the World Agroforestry Center in Kenya, and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. She has participated in various collective endeavors, including the Food Systems Economic Commission, the Global Panel of Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition Foresight 2.0 report, the Lancet Commission on Anaemia, and the EAT-Lancet Commissions 1 and now 2. She was also the Co-Chair of the Global Nutrition Report and Team Leader for the UN High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Systems and Nutrition. Professor Fanzo received a PhD in nutrition from the University of Arizona and Stephen I. Morse postdoctoral fellowship in Immunology at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons.