Susan Mayne is the Director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In this position, Dr. Mayne leads the Center’s development and implementation of programs and policies related to the composition, quality, safety, and labeling of foods, food and color additives, and cosmetics. CFSAN’s responsibilities also include fostering the development of healthier foods and ensuring that consumers have access to accurate and useful information to make healthy food choices.

An internationally recognized public health leader and scientist, Dr. Mayne received a B.A. in chemistry from the University of Colorado. She earned a Ph.D. in nutritional sciences, with minors in biochemistry and toxicology, from Cornell University.

Prior to joining the FDA in January 2015, she spent nearly three decades at Yale University, where she held an endowed chair as the C.-E.A. Winslow Professor of Epidemiology. Her distinguished career there included two leadership positions: Chair of the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology and Associate Director of the Yale Cancer Center.

Dr. Mayne has conducted extensive research into the complex role of food, nutrition, and other health behaviors as determinants of chronic disease risk. She is author or coauthor of nearly 250 scientific publications and her work has been cited more than 17,000 times.

She completed two consecutive terms on the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences, and a five-year term on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the U.S. National Cancer Institute. 

As Director at CFSAN, she has overseen landmark activities including issuing numerous rules to implement the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, releasing an updated Nutrition Facts label which includes added sugars for the first time, determining that industrially produced trans fats are not generally recognized as safe and thus cannot be added to foods, implementing menu labeling requirements, and issuing sodium reduction targets for industry to improve the healthfulness of the U.S. food supply.

Follow Dr. Mayne on Twitter @DrMayneFDAFood

More from Dr. Mayne

• An Interview with Dr. Mayne on Her First Year as CFSAN Director
• Remarks by Dr. Mayne on FDA’s Role in Supporting Innovation in Food Technology
• FDA's Role in Improving Nutrition: Labeling and Other Authorities