Dr Lynnette M. Neufeld strives to accomplish a professional goal of mobilizing intellectual resources to improve the health and nutrition of populations, using strategic research to inform better program design and implementation. She is currently the Director of the Food and Nutrition Division (ESN) of FAO.

Before joining FAO in 2022, Dr Neufeld was the Director of Monitoring, Learning and Research (MLR) at the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and a member GAINs Senior Management Team. The MLR team leads all research and evaluation at GAIN, using evidence to guide improved program design and implementation, and filling critical gaps in the global evidence base. As a member of the Senior Management Team at GAIN, Dr Neufeld helped guide the strategic direction and effective operation of the organization. Dr Neufeld is actively involved in the global nutrition community, serving on several boards and technical advisory groups and since 2010, is the Chair of the Steering Committee of the Micronutrient Forum. Before joining GAIN in 2013, Dr Neufeld led the Micronutrient Initiative’s efforts to identify, develop and support strategic research related to diverse aspects of nutrition programs.  From 1998 to 2009, Dr Neufeld was Director of the Division of Nutritional Epidemiology at the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) in Mexico where her research focused on improving the effectiveness of interventions to promote the health, growth, and development of children from disadvantaged populations in Mexico and Latin America, including principal investigator of the nutrition evaluation of the Oportunidades (now Prospera) conditional cash transfer program in Mexico. She continues an active role in research, teaching and student advising through ongoing collaborations with Emory and Cornell Universities and INSP in Mexico and has close to 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters. Dr Neufeld has a Doctoral and master’s degrees in international nutrition from Cornell University and a Bachelor of Applied Human Nutrition from Guelph University in Guelph, Canada.