Lester M. Crawford

Dr. Crawford was elected a Director in February 2006. He currently serves as Senior Counsel to Policy Directions Inc. a Washington, D.C. based government relations/strategic government communications firm. Dr. Crawford served as Deputy Commissioner, Acting Commissioner and Commissioner at the FDA between 2002 and 2005, his fourth tour at the FDA since 1975. He also served as Administrator of the Food Safety & Inspection Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (1987-1991). From 1997-2002, he was Director of the Center for Food and Nutrition Policy at Georgetown University and at Virginia Tech, where it moved in 2001. Dr. Crawford has played major roles in mandatory nutrition labeling, the formation of the World Trade Organization and the control of chemical and microbiological contaminants of food. He has been an advisor to the World Health Organization of the United Nations for much of his career. Dr. Crawford is the author of over one hundred scientific publications and is the co-author of four books.

Dr. Crawford is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine (UK) and a Fellow of the International Society of Food Science and Technology. In 1984, he was inducted into the French Academy of Veterinary Medicine. He received the Award of Merit from the FDA in 1983 and the Presidential Rank Award from President Reagan in 1988 while he was at the USDA. He also has been honored by the British, French and Hungarian associations. In 1991, he received the Wooldridge Award, the British Veterinary Association's highest award. Dr. Crawford received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from Auburn University, his Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Georgia, and his Honorary Doctorate (MDV) from Budapest University.