Caroline Smith DeWaal

Caroline Smith DeWaal has a long career as an innovative leader focused on consumer protection, with national and global food safety and agricultural policy expertise. At the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), DeWaal provided strategic integration for a food safety program within an international nonprofit focused on addressing malnutrition. Advocating for food safety protections for consumers at the greatest risk of malnutrition, she spearheaded an effort to achieve global guidelines for food hygiene controls in traditional markets for food, approved by the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene in 2024. At the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), DeWaal worked with foreign governments to ensure bilateral alignment of national food safety systems. At the Center for Science in the Public Interest, DeWaal played a leading role in formulating the model for legislation, strategy, and building a successful coalition to support passage of the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act (2011), heralded as the first comprehensive revision of U.S. food safety law in 75 years. DeWaal holds a juris doctor degree from Antioch School of Law and a BA in political science from the University of Vermont. In 2024 she will receive the International Association for Food Protection’s Food Safety Award for contributions to the field of food safety. She also serves on the board of the Goldberg Charitable Corporation, which supports a university-wide Food Systems Chair at Harvard University, and has held positions with advisory committees for the World Health Organization, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the FDA.