Robert E. Brackett Named Director of the National Center for Food Safety and Technology (NCFST)

CHICAGO, June 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Robert E. Brackett, Ph.D. has been named by President John Anderson as the new director and vice president of the National Center for Food Safety and Technology (NCFST) at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).  Brackett will be responsible for management of the center and will continue to improve its stature as a national and international leader in the field. Brackett will report directly to IIT's Provost, Dr. Alan W. Cramb.

Brackett most recently served as senior vice president and chief science and regulatory officer for the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), a position he has held since 2007.  

"I am excited to be joining such a highly respected research institute," said Brackett. "NCFST's past successes are only a foreshadowing of what I believe a strong collaboration of academia, industry and government can do to advance food safety and nutrition in the U.S. and beyond."

Brackett has nearly 30 years of experience in scientific research in industry, government and academia.  Prior to his position at GMA, he worked at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FDA CFSAN), where he started as a senior microbiologist in the Office of Plant and Dairy Foods and Beverages in 2000. After several promotions, Brackett was appointed CFSAN Director, where from 2004-2007 he provided executive leadership to CFSAN's development and implementation of programs and policies relative to the composition, quality, safety and labeling of foods, food and color additives, dietary supplements and cosmetics. Earlier in his career, Brackett held professorial positions with North Carolina State University in Raleigh, and the University of Georgia in both its Department of Food Science and Technology and the Center for Food Safety and Quality Enhancement.

"I am delighted to report that after an intensive search, we have found an ideal leader in Dr. Brackett, whose career has earned him international recognition as a visionary in the areas of food safety, defense and nutrition," stated NCFST interim director and IIT Vice President Darsh Wasan. "His extensive professional experience in academic research, government and industry is directly in line with NCFST's mission to create a forum in which these three stakeholder groups can work together to address food safety and nutrition issues in a proactive manner to enhance public health."

Brackett is a fellow in the International Association for Food Protection and American Academy of Microbiologists, and a member of the International Association for Food Protection, Institute of Food Technologists, and the American Society for Microbiology.  He has been honored with the FDA Award of Merit, the International Association for Food Protection's President's Appreciation Award, and most recently, the William C. Frazier Food Microbiology Award.

The National Center for Food Safety and Technology (NCFST) is a unique research consortium located at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Moffett Campus (near Chicago) in Summit-Argo, IL, composed of scientists from the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and the food industry. NCFST's research addresses the food safety implications of emerging technologies in food processing and packaging and supports the development of safe food with health-promoting properties from farm to fork. For more, visit www.iit.edu/ncfst.

SOURCE Illinois Institute of Technology