Laurence Grummer-Strawn, PhD, MPA, MA World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

Laurence Grummer-Strawn is a technical officer at the World Health Organization, coordinating work on infant and young child feeding. Until December 2014, he served as chief of the Nutrition Branch at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Having earned his PhD from Princeton University, he worked at CDC for over 23 years, in the areas of Reproductive Health and Nutrition. He is an epidemiologist who has published over 150 scientific publications. He is recognized internationally for his work on vitamin and mineral deficiencies, breastfeeding policy, and development of both the CDC and the WHO Growth Charts. Dr. Grummer-Strawn is widely known in the breastfeeding research and advocacy communities, serving as scientific editor of the Surgeon General’s Call to Action on Breastfeeding, an executive committee member of the International Society for Research on Human Milk and Lactation, and a liaison to the US Breastfeeding Committee. He is responsible for the CDC Guide to Breastfeeding Interventions, CDC’s collection of breastfeeding data in the National Immunization Survey, the State Breastfeeding Report Card, the CDC survey of Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC). He was co-PI of the second Infant Feeding Practices Study, a longitudinal study that followed mother/baby dyads monthly from the third trimester of pregnancy through the first year of life. He chaired the Iodine Global Network, co-chaired the National Fruit and Vegetable Alliance, and served on the Executive Management Team of the Flour Fortification Initiative.