Plenarni predavači SA 2024
59. hrvatski i 19. međunarodni simpozij agronoma

Professor MARY ANN LILA

Institution: North Carolina State University, USA

Short biography and experience 

Mary Ann Lila is Director of the Plants for Human Health Institute, North Carolina State University, North Carolina Research Campus. She holds the David H. Murdock Distinguished Professorship, and is a Professor in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Sciences. Through ground-breaking, transdisciplinary discovery and outreach, her team of faculty at the Plants for Human Health Institute (PHHI) pioneers a dramatic shift in the way the American public views and uses food crops – not merely as a source of nutrients and flavorful calories, but as a powerful resource for components that protect and enhance human health. Integrated research in metabolomics, biochemistry, pharmacogenomics, molecular breeding, regenerative medicine, translational food science and nutrition and postharvest are aimed at development and promotion of mainstream fruit and vegetable produce with enhanced health benefits, and introduction of new or underappreciated crops and products from around the globe, allowing consumers to make proactive, responsible dietary choices that benefit their own, and their families’ health.

Recent projects include a Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research grant on “Closing the gap in delivery of fruit and vegetable benefits’; a USDA-funded initiative on polyphenol-protein aggregates for attenuation of food allergies; a USDA ANNH initiative on ‘Back to the River; the science behind Alaska’s traditional subsistence lifestyle’, a USDA SCRI CAP grant on leveraging genetic and genomic resources to enable improved blueberry and cranberry fruit quality attributes; a USDA/ARS Pulse Crop Health Initiative; and a Phase II USDA SBIR grant on ‘Clean, cost-effective technology to recover and stabilize phytoactive fruit compounds from waste streams’.

Lila was formerly Director (2006-2008) of ACES Global Connect (the international arm of the College of ACES, University of Illinois) and Associate Director of the nationally acclaimed Functional Foods for Health Program (1997-2000) at the University of Illinois. Dr. Lila has been honored with the Paul A. Funk Scholarship Recognition Award (the premier research award in the College of ACES, University of Illinois), the Spitze Professorial Career Excellence Award, the Faculty Award for Excellence in Research, the University Scholar Award, the Amoco Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Instruction, and the Lilly Endowment Teaching Fellowship. Dr. Lila is a recent recipient of the Babcock-Hart Award for food technology/public health (through the IFT), the Copernico Bronze Medal for Food Science & Nutrition, and the Senior Outstanding Global Engagement Award, NCSU. Dr. Lila has ongoing research projects in Australia, New Zealand, and various countries in Europe and Africa, and is Vice President of the Global Institute for BioExploration (GIBEX). In 1999, Dr. Lila won a Fulbright Senior Scholarship to conduct research and outreach in New Zealand, and subsequently tries to return to Australasia at least once/year.

Lecture title: From disease to depression to dementia: plant-derived compounds provide solutions to enhance human resilience, vitality and healthspan

Personal web page: https://plantsforhumanhealth.ncsu.edu/people/mary-ann-lila/

Ostali predavači: Plenarni predavači SA 2024