FDA's Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition Appoints Buchanan Senior Science Advisor

FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition has named Robert Buchanan, Ph.D., as its senior science advisor, effective immediately.

Buchanan will serve as chief scientific advisor to the center director, Joseph Levitt, on the significance of new and ongoing scientific developments affecting CFSAN's research programs and policies. Duties include serving as advocate and facilitator of science at CFSAN, including laboratory research, planning and formulating aspects of scientific and research proposals, and the training and professional development of regulatory scientists. Buchanan will represent the FDA and CFSAN at interagency meetings and conferences, which may include scientific, administrative or legal personnel and discussions involving regulatory problems and issues.

Prior to his appointment, Buchanan served as research microbiologist for the Agricultural Research Service, USDA, where he studied the effects and mechanisms whereby sublethal stresses alter the irradiation and thermal resistance of foodborne pathogens. He has also developed quantitative microbial risk assessment methodology and mathematical means for modeling the behavior of foodborne pathogens.

Buchanan has received numerous honors and awards for his work in food science and has published more than 160 professional's papers in the fields of food science and food safety.