Per Pinstrup-Andersen is the H.E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy and J. Thomas Clark Professor of Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, and has been a member of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences faculty since 2003. In that time, he has distinguished himself with outstanding individual scholarship as well as engagement with multidisciplinary teams and practitioners in policy analysis, food systems and policy making. He has written over 300 books, articles, and papers and his 2001 book Seeds of Contention has been published in five languages.
In addition to teaching popular graduate and undergraduate courses, Pinstrup-Andersen's conducts research on government policy related to food, nutrition and agriculture. His current emphasis is on the impact of globalization on low-income people in developing countries and their nutritional status, with emphasis regarding obesity and chronic diseases. These ongoing projects are conducted by graduate students under Pinstrup-Andersen's supervision, and include a study of nutrition in China, a study of the determinants of obesity in Korea, a study of the effects of the Green Revolution on iron-deficiency anemia in India, and studies on the interaction between agriculture and nutrition in Bolivia, Tanzania, and Kenya.
Pinstrup-Andersen is currently leading an international collaborative effort to create a program enhancing undergraduate and graduate training in policy analysis for the global food system. He has employed a social entrepreneurship approach to teaching to instill in students a collaborative attitude. His program, entitled "Food Policy for Developing Countries—The Role of Government in Global, National and Local Food System," is available on-line at http://cip.cornell.edu/gfs. The program aims to strengthen university training in policy analysis for food systems with emphasis on developing countries and social entrepreneurship.
Early in his career, Pinstrup-Andersen contributed to the development of what was then a revolutionary way of looking at the contribution of technological change in agriculture. In 1993, Dr. Pinstrup-Andersen launched the 2020 Vision Initiative, the most comprehensive and ambitious research and dissemination program ever undertaken on global food security. Commenced at a time when leaders worldwide were confident in biotechnological advances to ensure sufficient food supplies for the world's growing population, 2020 Vision alerted the world to potential food security crises in the 21st century. For his work, he was awarded the 2001 World Food Prize for contributions to the improvement of agricultural research, food policy and the lives of the poor.
Pinstrup-Andersen travels the world to speak at conferences and seminars. Last year he helped to organize the African Food Systems Symposia entitled "African Food Systems: Interaction with Health and Nutrition." Symposiums were offered both at the United Nations in New York City and at Cornell University. This was the first in a series of symposia, The African Series, a collaborative project between the United Nations University and Cornell University that addresses gaps in policy and knowledge that are preventing Africa from achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
At Cornell, he is in regular contact with today's generation of Cornell graduate and undergraduate students. He advises more than 10 graduate and 20 undergraduate students and is a faculty fellow in the Hans Bethe House. He is also a member of the curriculum development team for a popular undergraduate course, "State of the Planet". He is known for his selfless service, expert and sage advice, leadership and commitment to maintaining high academic standards. He has played a pivotal role in recent faculty recruitments as search committee chair and is actively engaged in mentor junior faculty.
Pinstrup-Andersen's entire academic career is marked by his strong ethical and moral standing as well as a vigorous commitment to addressing the problems of global hunger. He holds several honorary doctorates and professorships from universities around the world, and has received the Charles A. Black Award, the 2002 American Agricultural Economics Association Distinguished Policy Contribution Award, and the Danish Agronomy Prize. Colleagues describe Pinstrup-Andersen as insightful, selfless, and a truly exception scholar, teacher and public servant.
Pinstrip-Andersen lives in Ithaca, N.Y., with his wife, Birgit.