ROY M. PITKIN, M.D., (Chair), is professor emeritus at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and editor of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology. Previously, he was chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UCLA, and before that he was the chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Iowa. His involvement in nutrition began 25 years ago with an Academic Career Development Award in Nutrition from the National Institutes of Health and continued with his receipt of the Joseph Goldberger Award in Clinical Nutrition from the American Medical Association in 1982. He has chaired several committees of the Food and Nutrition Board involving maternal and child nutrition, including the Committee on Nutrition in Pregnancy and Lactation (1988–1992). He was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 1990.

LINDSAY H. ALLEN, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Nutrition and a faculty member in the Program in International Nutrition at the University of California at Davis. She received her B.Sc. in nutrition and agriculture from the University of Nottingham, England, and her Ph.D. in nutrition from the University of California at Davis. This was followed by experience at the University of California at Berkeley and a faculty position at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Allen's research focuses on the causes, consequences, and prevention of micronutrient deficiencies (vitamin B₁₂, folate, iron, zinc, and riboflavin) in developing countries and on vitamin B₁₂ deficiency in the elderly in the United States. She is an associate editor of the Journal of Nutrition and was awarded the Kellogg International Nutrition Prize in 1997. Her other responsibilities on the Food and Nutrition Board include serving as chair of the Committee on International Nutrition and as a member of the Standing Committee on the Scientific Evaluation of Dietary Reference Intakes.

LYNN B. BAILEY, Ph.D., is a professor of nutrition in the University of Florida's Food Science and Human Nutrition Department. Before joining the faculty in 1977, Dr. Bailey completed her Ph.D. and postdoctoral training at Purdue University in the area of human nutrient requirements. Her research has focused on the estimation of folate requirements and the evaluation of folate status in different life stages, including adolescence, young adulthood, pregnancy, and postmenopause. Collaborative studies involving folate labeled with stable isotopes have provided new information related to factors affecting folate bioavailability. Many scientific journal publications and book chapters have resulted from Dr. Bailey's research, and she was editor of the book Folate in Health and Disease. She has served on numerous expert scientific panels, including the Food and Drug Administration's Folate Subcommittee, which addressed the fortification of cereal grain products with folic acid in an effort to reduce the risk of neural tube defects. Dr. Bailey was the recipient of a national U.S. Department of Agriculture Award for Superior Service for her research accomplishments related to estimating folate requirements.

MERTON BERNFIELD, M.D., is an internationally recognized leader in developmental biology. Dr. Bernfield studies the molecular mechanisms underlying how organs take shape during embryonic development, which is important for understanding birth defects. He developed the most suitable mutant mouse model for human neural tube defects and has conducted research on prenatal care and birth outcome in blacks and whites. Dr. Bernfield serves as the Clement A. Smith Professor of Pediatrics and professor of cell biology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Bernfield has received various honors, including Guggenheim and Macy fellowships, and distinguished lectureships, including the Swedish Zetterstrom Lecture, the Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Lecture and the Wellcome Visiting Professorship in the Basic Medical Sciences. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, and a member of the American Association of Physicians. He is an editor for several basic and clinical science journals, a former member of the executive committee of the American Society for Cell Biology, and a past president of the Society for Developmental Biology.

PHILIPPE DE WALS, M.D., Ph.D., is professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada, and has been a visiting professor at the Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was born and educated in Belgium and received his degrees from the Catholic University of Louvain. Dr. De Wals's research is focused on the epidemiology of adverse reproductive outcomes and on the evaluation of health services and public health programs. He has authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters. He is a consultant in public health policy for the Regional Health Board of Monteregie, the Ministry of Health of Québec and Health Canada. In 1990 he was awarded the Jean Van Beneden Prize for distinguished achievement in public health research.

RALPH GREEN, M.D., is professor and chair of the Department of Pathology at the University of California at Davis and pathologistin chief at the University of California at Davis Medical Center. He received his medical degree and dissertational doctorate at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Dr. Green's research interests span several aspects of nutrition as applied to the blood and the nervous system. In particular, his work has focused on vitamin B₁₂, folate, and iron metabolism. He has developed improved methods for diagnosing deficiency of these nutrients. He has also been involved in population-based programs for food folate fortification in an economically deprived rural community. Recently, he has been studying the role of disturbance in homocysteine metabolism caused by vitamin deficiencies and genetic defects and how they may relate to vascular occlusive disease. Dr. Green has served on expert panels and advisory groups convened by the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Life Sciences Research Office of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology to assess folate nutritional status with particular reference to fortification of the U.S. diet with folate.

DONALD B. McCORMICK, Ph.D., is a professor of biochemistry at Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta. He received his undergraduate degree in chemistry and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Vanderbilt University. He was the L.H. Bailey Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University before becoming the F.E. Callaway Professor and chairman of biochemistry at Emory University. Dr. McCormick's research is focused on cofactors, including vitamins, coenzymes, and metal ions. He has elucidated major aspects of the metabolism of riboflavin, vitamin B₆, biotin, and lipoate with regard to both conversion to functional coenzymes and catabolism. Honors and awards received include Bausch and Lomb and Westinghouse Science Scholarships, U.S. Public Health Service and Guggenheim Fellowships, Mead Johnson and Osborne and Mendel Awards from the American Institute of Nutrition (now the American Society for Nutrition Sciences [ASNS]), Wellcome Visiting Professorships, and special name lectureships. He has approximately 500 publications and has been editor for Vitamins and Coenzymes, Vitamins and Hormones, and Annual Review of Nutrition. Dr. McCormick has been a member of numerous scientific societies and committees, including chairman of the National Institute of Health's nutrition study section, President of ASNS, board member for Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, and vice-chairman of the Food and Nutrition Board.

ROBERT M. RUSSELL, M.D., is professor of medicine and nutrition at Tufts University and an associate director of the Jean Mayer U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston. Dr. Russell received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his medical degree from Columbia University. He has served on national and international advisory boards including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, National Digestive Diseases Advisory Board, U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Investigation Committee (chairman), U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention, and the American Board of Internal Medicine. He has worked on international nutrition programs in several countries, including Vietnam, Iran, Guatemala, and China. In 1991 he served on the UNICEF Consulting Team for assessing malnutrition in postwar Southern Iraq. Dr. Russell is a member of numerous professional societies, has served as a councilor to the American Society of Clinical Nutrition, and was a member of the board of directors of the American College of Nutrition. As a senior scientist at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Dr. Russell's primary work involves studying the effects of aging on gastrointestinal absorptive function. He is a noted expert in the area of human metabolism of vitamins.

BARRY SHANE, Ph.D., is a professor of nutrition and chair of the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of California at Berkeley. He was born and educated in England and received his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of London. This was followed by postdoctoral studies at the University of California at Berkeley and a faculty position at the Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Shane's research is focused on various areas of biochemical nutrition, including the metabolic role and interrelationships of water-soluble vitamins and the influence of genetic variation on vitamin requirements. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles. He is on the editorial board of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Journal of Biological Chemistry and Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry and was awarded the Mead Johnson Award by the American Society of Nutrition Sciences. He currently serves on the board of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

STEVEN H. ZEISEL, M.D., Ph.D., is professor and chair in the Department of Nutrition and professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received his medical degree from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in nutrition from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Zeisel is the author of a medical curriculum in nutrition that is being used at more than 100 medical schools. Dr. Zeisel's research focuses on nutrient metabolism, specifically that of choline, with special emphasis on establishing human nutrient requirements and on identifying cancer-causing agents that are produced within the human body. He has authored more than 140 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters. Dr. Zeisel currently serves on the Medical Education Committee of the American Society for Clinical Nutrition and on the board of directors of the Association of Departments and Programs of Nutrition. Dr. Zeisel also is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.

IRWIN H. ROSENBERG, M.D., (Liaison, Subcommittee on Upper Levels), is an internationally recognized leader in nutrition science who has made important and unique contributions to the understanding of nutrition metabolism in health and disease. Dr. Rosenberg is professor of physiology, medicine, and nutrition at Tufts University School of Medicine and School of Nutrition; director of the Jean Mayer U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University; and dean for nutrition sciences at Tufts University. As a clinical nutrition investigator he has helped develop a nutritional focus within the field of gastroenterology, with his primary research interest being in the area of folate metabolism. His research for the past decade has focused on nutrition and the aging process. Among his many honors are the Grace Goldsmith Award of the American College of Nutrition, Robert H. Herman Memorial Award of the American Society of Clinical Nutrition, Jonathan B. Rhoads Award of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, 1994 W.O. Atwater Memorial Lectureship of the USDA, and 1996 Bristol Myers Squibb/Mead Johnson Award for Distinguished Achievement in Nutrition Research. Dr. Rosenberg was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 1994.