Morning Keynote Address Fred Kirschenmann Director, The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture Fred Kirschenmann, a longtime leader in national and international sustainable agriculture is the Director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University. He has been featured in national publications including National Geographic, the Smithsonian, Audubon, Business Week, the LA Times and Gourmet magazine. Lunchtime Keynote Address Marion Nestle, PhD, MPH Professor, New York University Marion Nestle is the Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, which she chaired from 1988-2003. Her degrees include a Ph.D. in molecular biology and an M.P.H. in public health nutrition. She is the author of Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health. In 2003, Food Politics won awards from the Association for American Publishers, James Beard Foundation, and World Hunger Year. Breakout Sessions Brent Newell Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment Brent Newell is a Staff Attorney and Director of the San Joaquin Valley Air Quality Project at the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment. For the last five years, Newell has represented Valley-based community groups in their struggle against dairy-related water and air pollution. Newell litigated the case that terminated the dairy "waiver" that allowed dairies to escape state water quality regulation and the case that forced the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to declare that California's agricultural air permit exemption violated the Clean Air Act. In 2003 and as a result of the settlement in Association of Irritated Residents v. U.S EPA, the California legislature passed Senate Bill 700 to regulate agricultural air pollution, including dairies. Newell drafted the bill for Senators Florez and Sher and provided assistance throughout the legislative session. Currently, Newell represents AIR in cases against Valley dairies built in violation of the Clean Air Act's program for new major stationary sources (New Source Review). Newell graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law in 2000. Dr. James Liebman Environmental Protection Agency Dr. Liebman holds a PhD in plant pathology from the University of California at Berkeley, and has worked on pest management and pesticide reduction programs in a variety of California crops. He currently works in the Agriculture Program at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Pacific Southwest Region office in San Francisco, promoting farming systems and practices that reduce emissions of targeted pollutants and that provide models for multi-media pollution prevention in the San Joaquin Valley. The program's major efforts include supporting integrated pest management and implementation of the federal Food Quality Protection Act, improving the effectiveness of EPA's regulation of genetically modified crops, and improving dairy manure management. Jeffrey Ritterman, MD Kaiser, Richmond Jeff Ritterman, MD is a senior physician practicing cardiology at Kaiser Richmond and is Chief of the Division of Cardiology. Dr. Ritterman has worked in International Health helping to found the Committee for Health Rights in El Salvador, the Salvadoran Medical Relief Fund, and The Southern Africa Medical Aid Fund. These organizations helped fund medical relief projects serving the poor in Central America and Southern Africa. Closer to home, Dr. Ritterman currently serves on the Board of Directors of Food First and has served on the advisory boards of PEHAB and the Richmond Center for Health. PEHAB, the Public and Environmental Health Advisory Board, is a state mandated board advising the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors on public and environmental health. Dr. Ritterman was instrumental in the development of the weekly farmer's market at Kaiser Richmond. Leslie Mikkelsen Prevention Institute Leslie Mikkelsen is Managing Director of Prevention Institute. She develops new programs and strategies to place prevention in the center of efforts to improve community health and well-being. A key emphasis of her work is on systems approaches to promoting healthy eating and physical activity. She has authored "Environmental and Policy Approaches to Promoting Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Behaviors" a research paper for The California Endowment as well as "The Links between the Neighborhood Food Environment and Childhood Nutrition" for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She coordinates the Strategic Alliance for Healthy Food and Activity Environments, a network advocating to make healthy eating and physical activity options more accessible in California. She also serves on the Kaiser Permanente Food Policy Steering Committee and is co-coordinator of the Health Care Without Harm Food Work Group. She is a Registered Dietitian and received her Master of Public Health degree from the University of California at Berkeley. Ted Schettler MD, MPH Science and Environmental Health Network Ted Schettler has a medical degree from Case Western Reserve University and a Masters degree in Public Health from Harvard University. He is Science Director of the Science and Environmental Health Network. (www.sehn.org) He is also co-chair of the Human Health and Environment Project of Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility. Dr. Schettler co-authored Generations at Risk (MIT Press, 1999), which examines the reproductive health effects of exposure to a variety of environmental toxicants, and In Harm's Way - Toxic Threats to Child Development, which examines the impacts of environmental contaminants on children's neurological development. He has served on the advisory committees of the US EPA and National Academy of Sciences. He on the medical staff of Boston Medical Center and has a clinical practice at the E. Boston Neighborhood Health Center. Jamie Harvie Institute for a Sustainable Future Jamie Harvie is a civil engineer, and presently serves as both the Director of HCWH's Healthy Food in Health Care Project, and as Executive Director for the Institute for a Sustainable Future (ISF), a not-for-profit organization based in Duluth, Minnesota. For the last two years he has coordinated HCWH's purchasing effort, which has resulted in a strong relationship between HCWH and the country's five largest Group Purchasing Organizations. Jamie also serves on the steering committee for the Green Guide for Healthcare Construction; design, construction, operations and maintenance guidelines for the healthcare industry. He was instrumental in negotiations with major pharmacy chains, which successfully resulted in a national voluntary phase-out of mercury thermometer sales. Mr. Harvie is a nationally recognized mercury expert and has been invited to speak internationally on pollution prevention. Together with his wife Nancy, they attempt to raise two happy, healthy, well adjusted children. William Friedland, PhD Professor Emeritus University of California, Santa Cruz Bill Friedland, PhD, a professor emeritus and research professor in Community Studies and Sociology, came to the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1969 after eight years at Cornell University. Dr. Friedland's wide-ranging interest in agriculture has focused on the social aspects of agriculture, including the impact of technology on labor. He is perhaps best known for his pathbreaking study of the consequences of the mechanization of tomato harvesting. Mechanization accelerated with the development at UC Davis of a machine harvester and a tomato that bears ripe fruit all at once rather than over time. Mechanization ushered in a new era of efficiency, but Friedland documented the downside: The workforce collapsed from 50,000 laborers to 18,000, and the number of growers shrank from 4,000 to 600, weeding out those who could not afford a $35,000 harvester. His numerous publications include From Columbus to Conagra: The Globalization of Agriculture and Food, Manufacturing Green Gold: The Conditions and Social Consequences of Lettuce Harvest Mechanization, and Destalking the Wily Tomato: A Case Study in Social Consequences in California Agricultural Research. Gina Solomon, MD, MPH Associate Director of PEHSU, UCSF Senior Scientist, Natural Resources Defense Council Gina Solomon is a Senior Scientist in the Health and Environment Program of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco where she is also the Associate Director of the UCSF Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit. Her work has included research on asthma, pesticides, and environmental and occupational threats to reproductive health and child development. Dr. Solomon serves on the U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board Drinking Water Committee, as well as on a scientific panel on toxicity testing for the National Academy of Sciences. She previously served on a Federal Advisory Committee on endocrine disrupting chemicals and on the California Expert Working Group on Environmental Health Tracking. Dr. Solomon has authored numerous articles and reports, and is co-author of the award-winning book, Generations at Risk: Reproductive Health and the Environment, published by MIT Press in 1999. Jeanne Peters R.D. George Boody Land Stewardship Project George Boody is the Executive Director of the Land Stewardship Project, a nonprofit membership organization that works for environmental stewardship, social justice, support for family farmers, and healthful food. In addition to management and leadership responsibilities, George has directed two interdisciplinary projects utilizing collaborative teams of researchers, non-profits and farmers. The Monitoring Project measured the impacts of farms transitioning to rotational grazing, including wildlife. The Multiple Benefits of Agriculture initiative uses modeling, and economic and social analyses to estimate the potential outcomes in watersheds from diversifying agriculture. He has a masters degree in horticulture with a minor in human nutrition and a bachelors degree in biology from the University of Minnesota. Rebecca Spector Center for Food Safety Rebecca Spector is West Coast director for the Center for Food Safety, where she coordinates consumer advocacy and policy campaigns to promote sustainable agriculture. She is associate editor of the book Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture, and is working on a companion book on industrial livestock production. Rebecca has nearly 15 years experience working with environmental and agricultural advocacy organizations, including Mothers & Others for a Livable Planet and Green Seal. She holds a Masters of Science in environmental policy from the University of Michigan, and with her husband, is owner of an organic farm in Half Moon Bay. Susan Roberts Susan Roberts JD, MS, RD graduated with distinction in Dietetics, Food and Nutrition from Iowa State University. She completed a Dietetic Internship to become a Registered Dietitian and a Master of Science degree in Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health at The University of Iowa College of Medicine. Ms. Roberts received her Juris Doctorate of Law with honors from Drake University School of Law and is a member of the Iowa Bar. Ms. Roberts's has written for newspapers such as the Des Moines Register including a syndicated Beyond Diet series, for national magazines such as Better Homes and Gardens, and for professional law and medical journals. Claudia Reed Policy Director California Coalition for Food and Farming Claudia became the Policy Director of California Coalition for Food and Farming in spring 2004, and has spent the last year or so working on federal food policy, particularly the Farm Bill. Claudia is a native of Sacramento, California, who has also lived in the Bay Area, the Rocky Mountains and upstate New York. She attended CSU Sacramento, where she studied social work, literature and music. When she was a child, she spent summers on her grandparents' farm in Auburn, where she helped pick fruit, feed chickens, milk the cow and weed the garden. Claudia's father was an educator and a lobbyist and as a young teenager, Claudia hated politics. But during college, Claudia took a job with a non-profit organization, working in the governmental relations office, and became a policy wonk of the first order. For 19 years prior to her job with the Coalition for Food and Farming, Claudia worked for the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Office of the President. She worked in the University's State Governmental Relations Office, interacting with the Legislature, the Governor and agency staff to protect and improve the University's budget and to effect policy change on the state and local levels. Claudia has lobbied on everything from the Cooperative Extension budget to intellectual property rights and information technology. Claudia is married to Bill, an architect. They have one daughter who is an interior designer. Claudia's hobbies are singing, reading, riding motorcycles and camping. Preston Maring, MD Kaiser Permanente Preston Maring has been an OB/GYN physician with Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center since 1971. While he has practiced OB/GYN surgeon, he is currently in a facility administrative position, and as a result his medical practice is limited to office gynecology. His passion is cooking with the best and freshest ingredients. Dr. Maring established the Friday Fresh Farmers' Market at Kaiser Oakland, featuring growers who are approved by the California Certified Organic Farmers' Association. Since its inception in May 2003, he has been a consultant for other hospital administrators who wish to start such a program at their facilities. His hobbies are gardening and sports and a monthly men's poetry group. His wife is a landscape designer and son an aspiring chef who hopes to cook his way through graduate school. Vanessa Bogenholm Vanessa graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a degree in Agricultural Biology. Owner of VB Farms, a certified organic strawberry, raspberry and vegetable farm based in Watsonville CA. Products sell at farmer's markets, local stores, wholesale across the United States and overseas to Japan and Singapore. Vanessa is owner of VB Agricultural Services which consults in land use plans, organic farming practices, erosion control plans and irrigation management techniques. She currently sits as Chair of the Board of California Certified Organic Farmers, representing 1400 certified organic producers. Active in legislative actions at the state and federal level involving organic farming, rural residential interfacing with farming, and farm worker issues. Nora Norback Kaiser Richmond Nora Norback is a registered dietitian at Kaiser Permanente in Richmond. Initially trained in psychology, Nora has worked in food and nutrition since 1981. She graduated from UC Berkeley's MPH-Nutrition/dietetic internship program in 1992, and has taught at the University, as well as City College of San Francisco. Currently, she provides nutrition education and direct care to patients of all ages, chairs the Obesity Task Force and Community Food & Nutrition Committees at Kaiser Permanente in Richmond. Ms Norback is a founding member of the American Dietetic Association's Weight Management Practice Group, and has earned advanced certificates in pediatric weight management and diabetes education. Mary Cranley Nurse Practitioner, Kaiser Union City Mary Cranley works as a nurse practitioner at Kaiser Permanente in Hayward and is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Physicians for Social Responsibility Food Working Group. She offers Reiki at a women's cancer clinic in Oakland and is also involved in a food security group working with issues surrounding genetically engineered food and agriculture. Lynn Garske Manager of Environmental Stewardship, Kaiser Permanente Lynn Garske is Kaiser Permanente's Manager of Environmental Stewardship. She is responsible for directing environmental stewardship efforts to ensure Kaiser Permanente's business practices are aligned with protecting the environment by planning, organizing, and driving environmentally conscious purchasing practices, facilities design, and business operations. Additional focuses for Environmental Stewardship in 2005 include work on economically feasible, ecologically healthy food practices and implementation of a far-reaching chemicals policy promoting producer responsibility and positive health outcomes. Lynn has been with Kaiser Permanente for nine years. Pat Burdullis Catholic Healthcare West Pat is a Register Dietitian with over 25 years of experience working with healthcare foodservice. She currently works in the corporate Supply Chain Management office for Catholic Healthcare West, where she has responsibility for negotiating and monitoring the non-clinical contract for CHW's acute care facilities. Supply contracts for Food & Nutrition Services fall in this area. Pat also assumes responsibility for coordinating and facilitating the activities of CHW's Food & Nutrition Council. The council provides input and sets annual goals for the Food & Nutrition Departments in CHW. Rick North Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility Rick North is the project director for the Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility's Campaign For Safe Food, which was initiated in 2003. The Campaign's mission is to advance an agricultural and food system in Oregon that does not use genetically modified organisms. Rick's current priorities in the Campaign are leading a grass roots effort to discontinue the use of recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST) in cows and to ensure that genetically engineered biopharmaceutical crops do not contaminate the human food supply or environment. He has been a speaker on genetically engineered foods at numerous regional and national meetings and in the media. After teaching high school social studies for five years in Canton, Ohio, Rick had a 21-year career with the American Cancer Society in Ohio, Maryland and Oregon, completing his service as executive vice president (CEO) of the Oregon Division from 1993 to 1998. After several years of volunteer work in sustainability issues, he became managing director at the Northwest Earth Institute in Portland from 2000 to 2002. Rick has a B.A. degree from Mt. Union College in Alliance, Ohio and an M.A. degree in history from Akron University. He and his wife Holly, a special education teacher for Multnomah County ESD, reside in Durham, OR. They have two children, Michael, 26, and Tanja, 25. Deane Bussiere Dominican Hospital / Catholic Healthcare West Dominican Hospital's Executive Chef Deane Bussiere graduated with honors from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York in September of 1989. He has been cooking for over 20 years and is a past member of the Chef's Collaborative 2000, the Community Alliance of Family Farmers, and the Culinary Alliance of Santa Cruz County. While chef at the Flea Street Cafe in Menlo Park, Deane purchased only produce, dairy and dry goods that were organic and also began purchasing organic and natural meats. Since then he has been an organic proponent at such establishments as the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park, Emile's Restaurant and Cooking School in San Jose and most recently at the Shadowbrook Restaurant in Capitola. Sister Mary Ellen Leciejewski Ecology Program Coordinator Catholic Healthcare West Sister Mary Ellen Leciejewski has been the Ecology Program Coordinator for Catholic Healthcare West (CHW), a health care delivery system with facilities in California, Arizona and Nevada since 1996. She is responsible for focusing and coordinating efforts in areas of environmental concern both at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz and Systemwide. Mary Ellen addresses issues of environmental and waste management, collaborating with the facilities to establish communication networks, share best practices and influence product and vendor selections. Mike Raciti Storeroom and Garden Coordinator Dominican Hospital. Santa Cruz Michael Raciti is currently the Storeroom Coordinator for Dominican Hospital's Food & Nutrition Services Department. Before coming to Dominican in 2002, Michael managed an organic farm in Carmel Valley, Ca. that provided produce for Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. At Dominican for the past 3 years, Michael has been involved in the design and construction of 2 organic garden plots on the Hospital campus that include a worm composting system that recycles kitchen food scraps. Michael has also established a volunteer base of hospital employees and local high school students to harvest the essentials of life from the gardens. Cathy Steadman Prevention Institute Charles Margulis Center for Environmental Health, Center for Food and Safety Charles Margulis currently splits his time working on food activism with the Center for Environmental Health and with the San Francisco office of the Center for Food Safety. Charles trained as a professional chef at the California Culinary Academy and worked for many years in the organic food industries. He joined the Greenpeace USA Genetic Engineering Campaign in 1998, and was their lead campaigner for five years. He also serves on the Steering Committee of Californians for GE Free Agriculture. Scott Exo Executive Director, Food Alliance Scott has over fifteen years of experience in non-profit and program management experience. Prior to joining Food Alliance in 1999, Scott served six years as the director of the Grassroots Leadership Project at 1000 Friends of Oregon, a land use planning and advocacy organization. In addition to his work in Oregon, Scott has managed overseas rural development and study abroad programs and served as an organizational consultant. Scott earned masters degrees in Geography and in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1989. Anya Fernald Community Alliance with Family Farmers Anya Fernald has the Program Director of the Community Alliance with Family Farmers since July 2005. At CAFF, she is responsible for the statewide Farm to School program active in 100 California schools and for the Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign. Previously, she worked for Slow Food in Italy for four years, two of which as the Program Director at the Slow Food Foundation. Anya has co-authored a book for Slow Food Editore, and has written for Slow Magazine, the Snail, Saveur, Specialty Food, and other publications. Dina Izzo Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA) Dina Izzo is the self-titled Produce queen with a 25 year reign that includes retail organic produce business in management and ownership. Dina worked in wholesale operations for 10 years, which brought organics to the forefront of her career. She served as President of the Ecological Farming Association for three years, winning the prestigious Golden Plier Award in recognition for knowing how to move it along. Dina is currently the Marketing Coordinator at the Agriculture and Land Based Training Association (ALBA). Her work with ALBA includes management of ALBA Organics, a distribution company that works with Stanford University, University of California Santa Cruz, Sutter Maternity and Surgery, and Dominican Hospital, both located in Santa Cruz Ca. Deanna Gunter RD Manager of Food and Nutrition Services Mercy Medical Center, Redding, CA Deanna is a Registered Dietitian who graduated from California Polytechnic State University in 1987, with a degree in Dietetics and Food Administration. She has been in Healthcare foodservice for the past 15-years, managing food service in both nursing homes and acute care hospitals. Deanna has been a part of the Catholic Healthcare West family for 13 years, beginning with a position in Nutrition Management at Mercy Bakersfield, and currently managing the Nutrition Services Department for Mercy Medical Center in Redding. Deanna is a native of Northern California, born and raised in Red Bluff. She loves the outdoors and spending time with her 2 children and husband. Eric Montell Associate Director of Resident Dining Stanford University Marie Kulick Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy Marie Kulick is a Senior Associate in the Food and Health Program at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. A key focus of her work is on preventing pollution of the food chain by among other things promoting the use of safer materials and on building support for an agricultural food system that reflects health considerations. Recently she authored "Healthy Food, Healthy Hospitals, Healthy Communities" a report that highlights the successful efforts of health care facilities to improve access to fresh, sustainably produced food and identifies strategies for overcoming potential hurdles such as tight budgets and restrictive vendor contracts. Marie has a B.A. in Communications from McDaniel College and a Master of Studies in Environmental Law from Vermont Law School. Prior to IATP, Ms. Kulick worked for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Environmental Fund for Maryland, and Clean Water Action. Kate Tierney United Natural Foods Kate Tierney is the Vice President of Sales for United Natural Foods, Inc. UNFI is the largest national distributor of Organic and Natural products in the US. Kate is a 16 year veteran of the Natural Products Industry and has been with United Natural Foods for over ten years. She was formerly a sales broker and natural retailer. Kate has served on numerous committees and panels for UNFI to determine programs that promote healthy living. She has also been actively involved in industry-wide efforts to draw awareness to the benefits of natural and organic products including supporting CA legislation promoting healthy choices for kids in vending; Breast Cancer awareness campaigns in conjunction with Avalon Natural Products; and truth in labeling efforts in conjunction with the Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods.     © Copyright FoodMed 2007