Jessica Fanzo

Jessica Fanzo, Ph.D., is the James Anderson Professor of Food Policy and Climate at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna Italy. Before coming to SAIS Bologna in 2023, Professor Fanzo was a Professor of Climate and Food and the Director of the Food for Humanity Initiative at Columbia University’s Climate School. Prior to that, she served as 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 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.

Fanzo serves on the International Livestock Research Institute and the Alliance for Bioversity International and CIAT boards and served up until 2025 on the Clim-EAT board and the Integrated Partnership Board of the CGIAR. She is the co-Chair of the Executive Committee for the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement. She currently leads the development of the Food Systems Dashboard and the Food Systems Countdown to 2030 Initiative. She currently leads the development of the Food Systems Dashboard and the Food Systems Countdown to 2030 Initiative.

Professor Fanzo received a PhD in nutrition from the University of Arizona and Stephen I. Morse postdoctoral fellowship in Immunology in the Department of Molecular Medicine at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons. She became an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2024.