Marion Nestle


Marion Nestle is an American academic. She is the Paulette Goddard professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. She is also a professor of Sociology at NYU and a visiting professor of nutritional sciences at Cornell University.

Biography

Education

Nestle received her BA from UC Berkeley, Phi Beta Kappa, after attending school there from 1954-1959. Her degrees include a Ph.D in molecular biology and an M.P.H. in public health nutrition, both from the University of California, Berkeley.

Career

She undertook postdoctoral work in biochemistry and developmental biology at Brandeis University and later joining the faculty in biology in 1975. Through this professorship, she was assigned a nutrition course to teach and she realized that there was no standardized nutritional requirements and kicked off her interest in nutrition.
From 1976 to 1986, Nestle was associate dean for human biology and taught nutrition at the UCSF School of Medicine. From 1986 to 1988, she was senior nutrition policy advisor in the Department of Health and Human Services and editor of the Surgeon General’s Report on Nutrition and Health.
In 1988, she was appointed Chair of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, she held the position until 2003. In 1996, she founded the Food Studies program at New York University with food consultant Clark Wolf. She hoped that the new program of study would raise the public’s awareness of food and its role in culture, society, and personal nutrition. It not only succeeded but inspired other universities to launch their own programs. Her research examines scientific and socioeconomic influences on food choice, obesity, and food safety, emphasizing the role of food marketing. Through her role at NYU and her book, Food Politics, she has become a national influencer of food policy, nutrition, and food education.
She is the author of numerous articles in professional publications and is the author or co-author of nine books. Her latest book, Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda , was published in October 2015.
Nestle wrote the "Food Matters" column for the San Francisco Chronicle from 2003–2010. She blogs at foodpolitics.com, and tweets from @marionnestle. She has appeared in the documentary films Super Size Me, Food, Inc., , Killer at Large, In Organic We Trust, A Place at the Table, Fed Up, and In Defense of Food
She received the John Dewey Award for Distinguished Public Service from Bard College in 2010 and in 2011, was named Public Health Hero by the University of California School of Public Health at Berkeley. She received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Transylvania University in Kentucky in 2012. In 2013, she received the James Beard Leadership Award and Healthful Food Council's Innovator of the Year Award and the Public Health Association of New York City's Media Award in 2014.
In 2011, Forbes magazine listed Nestle as number 2 of "The world's 7 most powerful foodies."
In a 2013 interview, Nestle listed Wendell Berry, Frances Moore Lappé, Joan Gussow, and Michael Jacobson as people who inspired her.

Pronunciation

Her name is pronounced like the English verb "nestle", not like the name of the Swiss food conglomerate, to whom she is unrelated.