Jesus College Senior Research Fellow Susan Jebb, Professor of Diet and Population Health in Oxford University’s Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, has been appointed as the new Chair of the Food Standards Agency.
Professor Susan Jebb OBE, Picture by Ed Nix.
Susan, who begins her new role today, says: “I am delighted to be appointed to Chair the Food Standards Agency. This is an important time for our food system, and I am looking forward to building on the trust that government has placed in the FSA to play a full and active role in the challenges which lie ahead. Most importantly I want to ensure that the department continues to be highly effective in protecting public health and delivering its mission of ‘food we can trust’.
“My aim is to champion science and transparent, evidence-based decision making, while ensuring the consumer perspective is central to everything we do. I want to strengthen our relationships across government and with the devolved countries, so that together we can maintain the confidence in our food standards among consumers and our trading partners.”
The appointment was confirmed last week following a hearing at the Health and Social Care Committee. Committee Chair, the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, said: “I am very pleased to endorse the appointment of Professor Susan Jebb to this important position of Chair of the Food Standards Agency and wish her every success in the role. She performed outstandingly well in her hearing in front of the Select Committee so it was not a difficult decision to make.”
Alongside this new role Susan will continue her research part-time at the University of Oxford.
Susan’s research focuses on how what we eat affects the risk of gaining weight or becoming obese and the behavioural interventions that might be effective to help people lose weight or to change their diet to reduce the risk of obesity-related diseases. Her research group mostly conduct randomised controlled trials, particularly in primary care, to identify how health professionals can encourage and support people to change their diet and improve their health.
She is also interested in how scientific evidence is interpreted and used in policy and practice, and has worked closely with the Government on a number of public health projects. From 2005 – 2007 Susan was a science advisor for the influential Foresight Report on obesity, led by the Government Chief Scientist. She chaired the cross-government Expert Advisory Group on obesity (2007-2011) and the Public Health Responsibility Deal Food Network (2010-2015), negotiating agreements with the food industry to improve public health. Read more here.
Commenting on the appointment, Head of the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, Professor Richard Hobbs said: “Susan has a leading role in building our department’s capacity for high-quality public health research, bringing science to the heart of public debate on obesity, food and our environment. She has championed the role of evidence in policymaking, and has helped transform national approaches to tackling diet and weight loss. We wish her every success in this new and important role at a critical time for food standards.”
Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt FRS FREng, Principal of Jesus College, said: “On behalf of the whole Jesus College community, I would like to congratulate Susan on her appointment as the new Chair of the Food Standards Agency. This is a highly-respected and highly-influential role, and one that we know she will pursue with the vigour and passion she has demonstrated in her academic research and advisory roles to date.“