Barbara Burlingame is a scientist and professor of nutrition and food systems. She received her Ph.D. from Massey University (New Zealand) and bachelor’s degree from University of California, Davis, in nutrition science and environmental toxicology. Her research expertise includes food composition, nutrient requirements, dietary assessment, biodiversity for food and nutrition, indigenous peoples’ food systems, sustainable diets, and provision of scientific/policy advice on food security and nutrition. 

Since 2016 she has been Professor at Massey University, first in the school of public health, and since 2022 at Massey’s Riddet Institute. Prior to these roles, she worked for 16 years at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as Chief/ Deputy Director of Nutrition, and Senior/Senior/Principal Nutrition Officer.  Before joining FAO, Professor Burlingame spent 12 years as Nutrition Programme Leader at the New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food Research and Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. 

Professor Burlingame is author of 60+ papers in international, peer-reviewed journals, 17 books as author, 24 book chapters, 18 books as editor, and hundreds of contributions to reports and UN publications. 

She is/has been the editor of several food and nutrition journals, including 13 years as Editor-in-Chief of Elsevier’s Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, and for the past 10 years as Specialty Chief Editor at Frontiers in Nutrition.

From 1993-2011, she was global INFOODS coordinator. For more than 30 years she has served as coordinator and advisor to many projects and programmes on food composition around the world. Throughout her career, she has been a member of many scientific advisory boards and international committees including Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA), European Food Safety Authority; Expert and Representative in One Planet, Sustainable Food Systems.

Currently, Professor Burlingame is a member of the Steering Committee of the High Level Panel of Experts for the Committee on World Food Security (2019-2023), chair of the Sustainable Diets Task Force for the International Union of Nutritional Sciences, specialty chief editor of Frontiers in Nutrition and Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, member of the Global-Hub on Indigenous Peoples’ Food and Knowledge Systems, and member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub. Recognitions during her career include the 1998 Science and Technology Medal, The Royal Society of New Zealand; the 2021 award of the Ancel and Margaret Keys Prize in recognition of her contributions to valorization of the Mediterranean Diet. In 2022 she was made a Fellow of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences.