Patrick Webb

Biography

Patrick Webb holds an endowed chair at the Friedman School, the only self-governing graduate school of nutrition in the United States. He also holds appointments at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, at the Patan Academy of Health Sciences in Kathmandu, Nepal, and at the University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany. He also serves as Policy and Evidence Adviser to the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, an initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK's Department for International Development. Webb was previously Chief of Nutrition for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) from 2003 to 2005, and a Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute from 1989 through 1994.

Webb, a British citizen, holds an undergraduate degree in geography from Sussex University, a master's degree from the Centre for West Africa Studies at the University of Birmingham, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in geography from the University of Birmingham. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1984. He attended The Blue School, Wells in Somerset from 1971 to 1979.

Webb is considered to be one of the world’s most influential voices in the field of international nutrition, particularly as it relates to the domain of humanitarian intervention. He is also a widely known authority on food security, agriculture and nutrition policies, and food assistance. He led the United States Agency for International Development’s review of food aid quality from 2009 to 2016, served on the United Nations’ Hunger Task Force from 2003 through 2005, and is currently the Program Director for the USAID-supported Feed the Future Nutrition Innovation Lab, 2010–2020. Webb has been a board member for the Nevin Scrimshaw International Nutrition Foundation, the Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, the Scientific Advisory Council of Biodiversity International, the Undernutrition steering committee of the Sackler Institute of Nutrition Science Research at the New York Academy of Sciences, the Advisory Group on Agriculture and Nutrition for the Millennium Villages Project, and of Food Security. He was in North Korea for the 2004 survey of nutrition, health and mortality, on the ground in Aceh after the 2004 tsunami, as well as in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. He was a member of the Maternal and Child Nutrition Study Group that oversaw the 2013 Lancet Series on nutrition. Webb is currently part of the WHO/UNICEF Technical expert advisory group on nutrition monitoring (TEAM), a member of the Research Committee of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health, a Founding Member of the Society for Implementation Science in Nutrition (SISN), and a Council Member of the Independent Science and Partnership Council (ISPC) of the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR).

Publications

Webb has authored around 80 peer-reviewed journal articles, as well as multiple books and book chapters. His 1994 book on Famine and Food Security in Ethiopia: Lessons for Africa. Chichester: John Wiley, co-authored with Joachim von Braun, was reviewed in the New Scientist under the title,"A hard row to hoe" by Michael Cross on 24 September 1994. The reviewer wrote that "not many academic books can move a reviewer to tears. This one did."

Webb’s subsequent book from 1999 on Famine in Africa: Causes, Responses and Prevention. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press was reviewed as "among the best of primers on current knowledge on famine prevention, market integration and malfunction, and household food security" by the Humanitarian Times, 17 Feb 1999. He has also pursued published research on broader public health issues, including tobacco use, HIV/AIDS , and child caring practices.

Recent noteworthy publications include:

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Video presentations/webcasts

Blogs

Twitter handle: @DrPatrickWebb