Meet the Food & Function Editorial Board

Plate1 Professor Gary Williamson, Editor-in-Chief

Professor Gary Williamson is Professor of Functional Food at the University of Leeds, UK, in the School of Food Science and Nutrition. His research interests are in nutritional and food biochemistry. He has over 270 refereed scientific publications, and is one of the most highly cited authors in agricultural sciences according to ISI. Currently, he is also a Visiting Professor of Food Safety at University of Surrey, UK, and Honorary Chair at Harbin Medical University, China.

Prior to joining the University of Leeds in 2007, Gary was the Head of Nutrient Bioavailability at Nestlé Research Centre, Lausanne, Switzerland, and before that Head of Phytochemicals at the Institute of Food Research, Norwich, UK. In addition to his full-time professorship at the Univeristy of Leeds, Gary is also a Scientific Advisor to the nutrient bioavailability group at Nestlé Ltd, specialising in polyphenols.

Plate2 Professor Steven Feng Chen, Associate Editor

Professor Steven Feng Chen is Professor of Food and Nutritional Science at the University of Hong Kong in the School of Biological Sciences. His research interests are primarily in the areas of functional foods and food biotechnology. He is particularly interested in the development of functional foods and nutraceuticals from plants and algae. He has edited 4 books, filed 6 patents, and published over 200 papers in refereed journals. He has received several prestigious awards such as HKU Outstanding Research Student Supervisor Award, HKU Outstanding Young Researcher Award, and CIFST Outstanding Researcher in Food Science and Technology Award. He is a highly cited scientist (top 1%) in agricultural sciences, and is an elected Fellow of American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

Plate3 Professor Cesar Fraga, Associate Editor

Professor Cesar Fraga received his doctoral degree in Biological Chemistry from the University of Buenos Aires in 1985. In 1990 he was appointed Professor of Physical Chemistry at the School of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of Buenos Aires, and Researcher at the National Council for Scientific Research Argentina (CONICET), positions that he still holds today. From 2004 Professor Fraga has also had a position of Research Professor at the Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis. He is vice-president of the Oxygen Club of California. His original research interests in free radical and antioxidants in biological systems were the foundation for his current activities centered on the health effects of plant constituents. Professor Fraga has earned numerous prizes and awards and is one of the most cited scientists in phytonutrients and human health.

Plate4 Professor Aedin Cassidy, Editorial Board member

Professor Aedin Cassidy is Professor of Diet and Health at the Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. Her research interests are in nutritional biochemistry with a specific interest in food bioactives and cardiovascular disease prevention. She received her PhD from Cambridge University in 1991 where she conducted some of the first studies to elucidate the biological effects of phytochemicals in humans. Prior to joining UEA, Aedin was Head of Molecular Nutrition and Women's Health at Unilever Research and previously was Reader in Nutritional Biochemistry at the University of Surrey, UK. She was awarded the Nutrition Society Medal in 1999 and in 2008 an award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Research’ in Tokyo, Japan, for her contribution to the isoflavone research field.

Plate5 Professor Kevin Croft, Editorial Board member

Professor Kevin Croft is a Professorial Fellow of the School of Medicine and Pharmacology at the University of Western Australia. He also holds the following positions: Chair, the Animal Ethics Committee, Royal Perth Hospital; Member of the Board of Postgraduate Studies, University of Western Australia; Director of Research, School of Medicine and Pharmacology, UWA; and was President of the Australasian Society for Free Radical Research, 2006–2007.

Kevin's major research interests are bioactive polyphenols in the diet, the absorption and metabolism of dietary polyphenols, impact on cardiovascular risk factors, human intervention trials, animal models of atherosclerosis, mechanism of vascular protection by polyphenols, lipid metabolism and the role of arachidonic acid metabolism by CYP450 and the role in cardiovascular disease. He has published over 200 peer reviewed papers.

Plate6 Professor Eric Decker, Editorial Board member

Professor Eric Decker received his B.S. degree in biology from Penn State University in 1982, his M.S. from the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Washington State University, in 1985 and his Ph.D. from the Department of Food Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1988 where he was a USDA National Needs Fellow. Professor Decker was an Assistant Professor in the Food Science Section of the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Kentucky from 1988 to 1993 after which he joined the Department of Food Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst as an Associate Professor in Food Chemistry. He was named the Fergus Clydesdale Endowed Chair from 2002–2007.

Professor Decker has been actively conducting research to characterize mechanisms by which lipids oxidize in heterogeneous food systems. His lab has worked extensively in the development of antioxidant technologies for food systems. As part of this research program, he has developed patented technologies to maximize the concentrations and stability of bioactive lipids such as omega-3 fatty acids allowing them to be incorporated into foods at nutritionally significant levels. In addition, Professor Decker has actively collaborated with other scientists to investigate the role of antioxidants, lipids and lipid oxidation products in the molecular basis of disease.

Professor Decker has published over 250 peer reviewed journal articles, reviews, and book chapters. He has also organized symposia and workshops on antioxidants, bioactive lipids, lipid oxidation and functional foods.

Plate7 Professor Alejandro Marangoni, Editorial Board member

Professor Alejandro Marangoni is a professor and Canada Research Chair in Food and Soft Materials Science at the University of Guelph. His work concentrates on the physical properties of foods, particularly fat crystallization and structure. He has published over 200 refereed research article and four books. He is the recipient of many awards including a 1999 Premier's Research Excellence Award, the first Young Scientist Award form the American Oil Chemists' Society (2000), a Canada Research Chair (2001, renewed in 2006), two Distinguished Researcher Awards from the Ontario Innovation Trust (2002), a Career Award from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (2002), an E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship (2002), given to the top 6 Canadian scientists from all disciplines, and the T.L. Mounts Award from AOCS in 2004. Professor Marangoni is a past chair of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada's Plant Biology and Food Science Grant Selection Committee and a member of NSERC's E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship selection committee. Professor Marangoni has co-founded two high-technology food companies and is the co-recipient of the 2008 Guelph Partners of Innovation “Innovator of the year” award for his discovery of a zero trans, low saturate shortening alternative which could revolutionize the baking industry.

Plate8 Dr Reinhard Miller, Editorial Board member

Dr Reinhard Miller is group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany. He studied Mathematics in Rostock and Colloid Chemistry in Dresden. His scientific interests are focused on dynamics of interfacial layers containing proteins, surfactants and other food relevant compounds. Dr Miller edited the book series “Studies in Interface Science” (24 volumes) and is now editor of the “Progress in Colloid Interface Science” series. He has published about 400 papers in refereed journals. At present he is President Elect of the European Colloid and Interface Society.

Plate9 Professor Paul J. Moughan, Editorial Board member

Professor Paul J. Moughan holds the position of Distinguished Professor at Massey University, New Zealand, and is Director of the Riddet Institute. The Riddet Institute, a New Zealand government funded Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE), is a partnership between the University of Otago, Auckland University and Massey University and two New Zealand Crown Research Institutes, Plant and Food Research and AgResearch, and is dedicated to research and postgraduate education in the area of food science and human nutrition. He was formerly foundation head of the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health at Massey University, Director of the university's Mongastric Research Centre and Foundation Scientific Director of the Fonterra-funded Milk and Health Research Centre.

Professor Moughan was appointed to the foundation chair in monogastric biology at Massey University in 1993 and his research has encompassed the fields of human and animal nutrition, food chemistry, functional foods, mammalian growth biology and digestive physiology. He has published in excess of 300 scientific works. In 1995 he was awarded Doctor of Science and in 1997 was awarded a Personal Chair at Massey University and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. He has received several prestigious international awards for his work and is an adviser to the international food and feedstuffs industries. He is a non-executive Director of the Gardiner Foundation, Melbourne, Australia.

Plate10 Dr Johan Ubbink, Editorial Board member

Dr Johan Ubbink is Senior Consultant at Food Concept & Physical Design, a strategy and technology company focusing on the development of sustainable foods. Trained as an experimental physical chemist at the University of Leiden (The Netherlands), he obtained his Ph.D. in the field of DNA biophysics at Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands). After stays as visiting scientist at the University of Bristol (UK) and Moscow State University (Russia), he joined industry. Initially as Senior Scientist at corporate research at Givaudan (Switzerland), in 1999 he switched to the Nestlé Research Center in Lausanne (Switzerland) where he was active as R&D specialist, coordinator for Delivery Systems and Scientific Expert Materials Science. His current research interests include food sustainability, the physics of glassy carbohydrates, the statistical mechanics of biopolymer complexes, and the biophysics of stabilization and delivery of fragile bioactive compounds.

Plate11 Professor Fons Voragen, Editorial Board member

Professor Fons Voragen is a Professor in the Laboratory of Food Chemistry of Wageningen University. His research expertise is in the areas of cereal products, enzymes, polysaccharides and proteins. He has published over 300 papers in refereed journals.

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