Lindsay Allen, PhD Lindsay Allen, PhD

Former IUNS Vice-President Lindsay Allen, PhD inducted into USDA Agricultural Research Service Science Hall of Fame

Lindsay Allen, PhD joins a prestigious group of scientists from USDA-ARS in the Science Hall of Fame.

IUNS congratulates former Vice-President of IUNS, Lindsay Allen, PhD, on her induction into the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Science Hall of Fame.

As announced by ASN this week, this prestigious honor is reserved for ARS employees whose work has had a significant impact on agricultural research by solving a problem through research and whose accomplishments continue to be internationally recognized by the scientific community. No more than two scientists from ARS are inducted each year. Dr Allen is being honored for her outstanding and sustained research contributions which led to the discovery that multiple micronutrient deficiencies that stem from poor dietary quality, rather than protein-energy deficiency, and are a major cause of stunting and functional impairment. As a result, her research has had a major impact on global maternal and infant health, and pregnancy and lactation outcomes in particular. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) adopted micronutrient supplement formulations for infants and pregnant women that Dr Allen helped to develop. Dr Allen also led the authorship of guidelines for micronutrient fortification of food for the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which have been widely cited and translated.  She has conducted many studies including randomized controlled supplementation and feeding trials in low-income populations to understand the prevalence, causes, and metabolic and functional effects of micronutrient deficiencies, published in 330 articles.

Dr Allen served on the IUNS Council member between 2001 and 2005 and continued serving on the IUNS Council as Vice-President for two further terms between 2005 and 2013.

She has also served as President of ASN during the 2020-2021 year and currently serves on the Board of Directors as Past President. She is the past Center Director and currently a Research Physiologist (ST) in the USDA-ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center (WHNRC) which is located on the campus of the University of California, Davis. She has served ASN as the first President of the Society for International Nutrition Research (now the Global Nutrition Council), Associate Editor for The Journal of Nutrition, and ASN representative to the International Union of Nutritional Sciences and the ASN Membership Committee. Accompanied by the bestowment of the 2012 ASN Fellow Award, Dr Allen’s contributions to ASN have been honored as the recipient of the McCollum International Lectureship Award, the Conrad Elvehjem Award for Public Service in Nutrition, the Kellogg International Nutrition Prize, and the 2016 Outstanding Investigator Award from the Vitamins & Minerals RIS. Her international recognition includes the Career Achievement in Evidence Translation Award from the Mathile Institute.

A panel of peers from USDA-ARS, other federal agencies, or academia selects no more than two scientists each year to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Inductees must be retired or eligible for retirement from ARS must have produced a major impact on agricultural research and made accomplishments that continue to be recognized by the agricultural research community. In addition, inductees must possess the character and record of achievement worthy of emulation by younger scientists and be nationally or internationally recognized by peers in the scientific community.

IUNS at Nutrition for Growth Summit

“We must work together to identify & develop evidence-based policies & to build capacity to create the nutrition leaders for tomorrow. Together, we can enable & lead new ways to address entrenched problems to meet the global nutrition goals,”

Dr Anna Lartey on behalf of IUNS, at Nutrition for Growth 2021

Immediate past president of IUNS, Dr Anna Lartey, delivered a statement to the Nutrition for Growth Summit 2021 livestreamed from Tokyo, Japan. The Summit took place over two days, December 7 and December 8, 2021.

Nutrition for Growth (N4G) is the global opportunity for leaders to invest in nutrition as part of a COVID-19 recovery and beyond, and to ensure that nutrition remains a priority on the global agenda.

Country governments, donors, philanthropies, international organizations, businesses, civil society organizations, academia and beyond came together to discuss accelerating progress to achieve the global nutrition targets and to end malnutrition in all its forms.

The Summit featured two-days of data-driven financial, policy, programmatic, or impact commitments from all stakeholders, aligned with the thematic pillars of this year’s N4G summit: universal health coverage, resilience, and healthy diets, and underpinned within the lenses of nutrition financing and accountability.

Following the summit, Government and private sector donors have pledged more than US$27 billion at the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit this week to address the global malnutrition and hunger crisis. Represented by five Heads of State and Government, 45 countries with high burdens of malnutrition and a dozen donors delivered renewed policy and financial commitments to end malnutrition. These commitments demonstrate country leadership and prioritization of nutrition at a crucial time, as fiscal resources are constrained, and malnutrition rates are on the rise due to the continuing global COVID-19 pandemic.

You can read more on the outcomes of the summit via the post summit press release here:

Nutrition and Cancer TF- Virtual Dialogues Series Starts April 12th 2021

ICONIC (International Collaboration on Nutrition in relation to Cancer), the IUNS Task Force, are pleased to announce that they will be hosting a series of Virtual Dialogues over the next year in collaboration with the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to address key questions in nutrition and cancer through online expert presentations and panel discussions.

The first Special Focus Dialogue takes place on April 12th 2021, on the topic “Nutrition and cancer in children, teens and young adults: current understanding and future opportunities”.

The event will provide a chance to connect, exchange knowledge in this area, access expert insights, and identify research priorities moving forward. There are plans to host further dialogues later in the year.

More information and registration details are available here. Regular updates on all the Dialogues will be on Twitter (@iuns_iconic).