Patrick Webb, a globally influential scholar of nutrition, food and agriculture policy, and humanitarian assistance, will join Cornell July 1 as the inaugural executive director of the Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Webb is currently the Alexander McFarlane Professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. He also served as chief nutritionist for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
“Following a rigorous, international search process, I am delighted to welcome Patrick to CALS,” said Benjamin Houlton, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean. “For more than 30 years, he has been engaged in exceptional scholarship, teaching and outreach, advising policymakers and managing complex multicountry research operations worldwide. Patrick is an eminent scholar and global thought-leader who brings immediate strategic opportunities to the Ashley School.”
As executive director, Webb will serve as the primary leader for the school’s intellectual identity, global visibility and interdisciplinary academic programs. He will be responsible for academic leadership, cross-campus and external partnerships, and faculty and community development.
“I’m thrilled to be taking on this role at Cornell, helping to shape a new school for a new era of evidence-building, training and practice,” Webb said. “There is potential for the Ashley School to have a huge impact on global issues relating to human development and the environment.”
Throughout his career, Webb has devoted energy to numerous national and international efforts to combat hunger and relieve human suffering. This includes serving as chief of nutrition for the United Nations World Food Programme from 2003 to 2005, during which time he acted as a first responder after a 9.2-magnitude earthquake and tsunami off the coast of Indonesia. Webb also served on the United Nations’ Hunger Task Force (2003-05); led USAID’s review of food aid quality (2009-21); directed USAID’s Feed the Future Nutrition Innovation Lab (2010-20); and oversaw USAID’s Food Systems and Nutrition Innovation Lab (2021-25). He was also a commissioner for the Eat-Lancet 2.0 commission.
A formidable scholar, Webb has published more than 120 peer-reviewed articles, which have been cited by other researchers over 45,000 times. His most-cited papers address strategies to improve maternal and child nutrition; policies to support livelihoods for some of the world’s poorest families; and advocacy for global food systems transformation to improve human and planetary health. In 2024, Webb was awarded the Jean-Pierre Habicht Lifetime Achievements in Global Nutrition Research Award by the American Society for Nutrition.
Webb earned his bachelor’s degree in geography from the University of Sussex, his master’s degree in African studies at the University of Birmingham, and his Ph.D. in economic geography, also from the University of Birmingham. A dual citizen of the United States and the United Kingdom, Webb lived in Africa for six years, and he continues to work in Africa and Asia on issues relating to food systems, agriculture, poverty and humanitarian response. He holds visiting appointments at universities in Nepal and Germany, and has been a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society since 1982.
Krisy Gashler is a writer for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
