| |
Staff
and Partners
Howarth Bouis
Director, HarvestPlus (based at IFPRI)
Howarth Bouis, in his position as Director of HarvestPlus, coordinates an interdisciplinary, global alliance of research centers and implementing agencies to biofortify and disseminate micronutrient-dense staple food crops and to measure their impact in improving nutrition. Since 1993, he has sought to promote biofortification activities both within the Future Harvest Centers, including their NARES partners, and in the human nutrition community -- through publications, seminars, workshops, symposiums, and fund-raising. His past research has concentrated on understanding how economic factors affect food demand and nutrition outcomes, particularly in Asia. Bouis, a U.S. citizen, holds a joint appointment at the International Food Policy Research Institute (Washington, D.C.) and the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) (Cali, Colombia). He received his B.A. in economics from Stanford University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Stanford University's Food Research Institute.
Expertise: Agricultural Economics
Contact: H.Bouis@CGIAR.org
Kwasi Ampofo
Reaching End User Coordinator, HarvestPlus (based with CIAT at Kampala, Uganda)
Kwasi Ampofo is the Reaching End User Coordinator for HarvestPlus. He has been involved in international agricultural research and development for the last 23 years. Over the period he has worked with NARES and farming communities to develop, adapt and disseminate integrated pest management strategies. He has worked with research and development partners across countries in eastern central and southern Africa to scale out IPM technologies with resource poor farming communities. Kwasi is a citizen of Ghana. He earned his BS in Zoology and Biochemistry from the University of Ghana and his PhD in agricultural entomology from the University of Queensland in Australia.
Expertise: Technology Transfer, Integrated Pest Management
Contact: K.Ampofo@CGIAR.org
Christine Hotz
Nutrition Coordinator, HarvestPlus (based at IFPRI)
Christine Hotz received her Bachelor of Science degree (Botany) and Master of Science (Nutrition) degree from the University of Manitoba, Canada and a PhD in Human Nutrition from the University of Otago (New Zealand). She served as Executive Officer of the International Zinc Nutrition Consultative Group (IZiNCG) since its founding in June 2000 and has recently been appointed as a member of its steering committee. Before joining IFPRI, she worked as a researcher and professor in the Center for Research in Nutrition and Health at the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico (Cuernavaca, Mexico). Her research activities have included the study of zinc and iron absorption from cereal-based diets using isotopic techniques, methods to improve iron and zinc absorption, and methods to evaluate zinc status.
Contact: C.Hotz@CGIAR.org
Bonnie McClafferty
Communications Coordinator, HarvestPlus (based at IFPRI)
Bonnie McClafferty is the Communications Coordinator
for HarvestPlus. She has her B.S. in Agronomy from Cornell
University and obtained her M.A. degree in Public Policy
and Public Administration from the University of Virginia.
Before joining HarvestPlus, Bonnie was Senior Communications
Specialist in the Food Consumption and Nutrition Division
of the International Food Policy Research Institute
where she was responsible for the design and implementation
of communications strategies for research programs focusing
on food and nutrition security and poverty alleviation.
Bonnie has over 20 years experience working in international
development, focusing particularly on agriculture and
gender.
Expertise: Communications, Public Relations
Contact: B.McClafferty@CGIAR.org
J.V. Meenakshi
Impact and Policy Coordinator, HarvestPlus (based at IFPRI)
J.V. Meenakshi is the Impact and Policy Coordinator for HarvestPlus. She obtained her Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees in Agricultural Economics from Cornell University. Before joining HarvestPlus, Meenakshi was on the faculty at the Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. Her research areas include: poverty and welfare, nutrition insecurity, food demand, and agricultural markets.
Contact: J.Meenakshi@CGIAR.org
Wolfgang H. Pfeiffer
Plant Breeding Coordinator, HarvestPlus (based at CIAT)
Wolfgang H. Pfeiffer is the Plant Breeding Coordinator for HarvestPlus. He obtained his Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees in Agricultural Sciences from Stuttgart -Hohenheim University in Germany. Before joining HarvestPlus, Wolf was Head Plant Breeder for the Intensive Agro-ecosystems Program, at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico and responsible for applied and strategic bread wheat, durum wheat, and triticale improvement under CIMMYT's global germplasm development mandate. Wolf has over 20 years' experience with: international agricultural research in crop improvement, development and implementation of research strategies and methods, human resource development, and the coordination of global and regional networks and projects.
Expertise: Crop Improvement, International Agriculture
Contact: W.Pfeiffer@CGIAR.org
Joe Tohme
Biotechnology Coordinator, HarvestPlus
(based at CIAT)
Joe Tohme is the Plant Breeding and Biotechnology
Coordinator for HarvestPlus and is based at the International
Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). With a Ph.D.
in Crop Science from Michigan State University, Joe
is currently the leader of the Agribiodiversity and
Biotechnology project. He helped set up the CIAT molecular
markers lab, and implement the molecular characterization
of genetic diversity and mapping of agronomical traits
in bean, cassava, rice, and Brachiaria. His current
research interest involves integrating molecular-assisted
selection in breeding and germplasm conservation programs,
setting up high throughput genotyping capacity and a
microarray gene expression facility for plant pathogens
interaction (rice blast, bean angular leaf spot) and
aluminum stress studies.
Expertise: Plant Breeding and Biotechnology Coordinator
Contact: J.Tohme@CGIAR.org
Crop Leaders
Gerard Barry, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Rice Crop Leader
Gerard Barry is the Rice Crop Team Leader based at the International Rice Research Institute. He has a PhD in Biological Sciences from Columbia University in New York. He is also the Golden Rice Network Coordinator and the Head of the Intellectual Property Management Unit at IRRI. He was the technology leader for rice, core team member for High Yield Rice project, a joint project with Japan Tobacco, co-director for Rice Strategic Business Team, Head of Rice Genomics, and Director of Research for Product and Technology Cooperation in Monsanto before he joined IRRI.
Contact: G.Barry@cgiar.org
Stephen Beebe, Centro Internacional de Agricultura
Tropical (CIAT), Bean Crop Leader
Stephen Beebe is Senior Bean Breeder at CIAT, with more
than 25 years experience in working with Phaseolus beans.
Prior to involvement in the biofortification effort,
his focus was improving the common bean for disease
and insect resistance and tolerance to low soil fertility
and drought, with special emphasis on Central America
and the Caribbean but with contacts in Brazil and in
Africa as well. Several varieties bred by Dr. Beebe
for resistance to bean golden yellow mosaic virus are
widely used in Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Guatemala,
El Salvador, Cuba, and Argentina. Since the initiation
of the biofortification effort in 1996, he supervised
the initial studies to determine the feasibility of
improving common bean for higher mineral content. He
received his Ph.D. in 1978 from the University of Wisconsin
in Plant Breeding-Plant Genetics.
Contact: S.Beebe@CGIAR.org
Hernán Ceballos, Centro Internacional
de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT), Cassava Crop Leader
Hernán Ceballos has a B.S. in Agronomy (1980,
Argentina) and Ph.D. (1987, Cornell University, USA).
a major in Plant Breeding, and minor in Plant Pathology
and International Agriculture. He has extensive experience
in population improvement and development of inbred
lines for good agronomic performance, disease and insect
resistance and tolerance to acid soils and drought in
maize and cassava. He serves as an advisor to several
South American national research programs in their breeding
activities and works in close partnership with the private
sector to better orient their cassava breeding projects.
Awards and scholarships include: Universidad Nacional
de Córdoba, Argentina (1980); Instituto Nacional
de Tecnología Agropecuaria, Argentina (1981);
Organization of American States (1983); Cornell University
(1986).
Contact: H.Ceballos@CGIAR.org
Regina Kapinga, International Potato Center
(CIP), Sweetpotato Crop Leader
Regina Kapinga works for the Research Division of the
International Potato Center (CIP), Sub-Saharan Africa
Region (SSA). She is currently based in Kampala, Uganda.
She received her Ph.D. in agronomy/ physiology in 1994
from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Regina is currently
the Regional Sweetpotato Breeder for SSA, and also the
Coordinator of VITAA (Vitamin A for Africa), an initiative
program to promote the utilization of orange-fleshed
sweetpotato as one of the food-based approaches to combat
vitamin A deficiency targeting the African communities.
She is a member of nine international/regional societies
that include, among others, the International Society
of Tropical Root Crops (ISTRC), Cassava Biotechnology
Network (CBN), FoodAfrica Initiative, African Potato
Association, and African Crop Science Society. Regina
has 20 years of experience in the improvement of tropical
root and tuber crops, mainly cassava, sweetpotato, and
yams. Apart from breeding, she also conducts research
on agronomy and physiology of cassava and sweetpotato,
and farmer participatory research on the integrated
crop management practices through Farmer Field School
approaches. Regina is also versed in cultural control
practices of root crops pests and diseases; establishment
of a sustainable informal system for multiplication
and distribution of planting materials, and on improved
postharvest handling practices. She also does participatory
research on developing technologies targeting end-users
(mainly women who undertake big responsibilities of
feeding the families). Currently her major focus is
on sweetpotato breeding for increased beta-carotene
and dry matter contents of orange-fleshed sweetpotato
to suit the consumer acceptance targeting the African
communities, mainly children. Regina works in Kenya,
Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Ghana, Angola,
and South Africa as part of VITAA partnerships.
Contact: R.Kapinga@CGIAR.org
Anna-Marie Ball, Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT-Uganda), Behaviour Change/Demand Creation Specialist
Anna-Marie is the Team Leader for the Reaching End Users Orange Fleshed Sweetpotato Project that is simultaneously being implemented in Uganda and Mozambique. Prior to joining HarvestPlus Anna-Marie worked in the water sector in Zambia as a Health Expert/Sociologist where behaviour change, demand creation and AIDS mainstreaming were integrated into the programming. In Botswana she conducted research in the area of youth reproductive health, behaviour change and HIV/AIDS. A Canadian citizen, but raised in Southern Africa, Anna-Marie received her BSc (Honours) in Biology from Queen’s University (Canada), a Masters in International Development Planning (University of Guelph) and PhD in Community Health Sciences (University of Manitoba).
Contact: A.Ball@cgiar.org
J. Ivan Ortiz-Monasterio, International Maize
and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Wheat Crop Leader
J. Ivan Ortiz-Monasterio is a Senior Scientist in the
Wheat Program at CIMMYT. He earned the B.S. degree from
the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico and
M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Ortiz-Monasterio has been working
on ways to improve nutrient use efficiency in wheat,
both from the breeding as well as the crop management
perspective. Dr. Ortiz-Monasterio has served as a consultant
to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He
is a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences as well
as the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He
is currently serving as Project Coordinator in Frontier
Project 4 – Biofortified Grain for Human Health
- at CIMMYT. He is also co-director of the Stanford
University/CIMMYT project on Sustainability in the Yaqui
Valley, Mexico.
Contact: I.Monasterio@CGIAR.org
Kevin Pixley, International Maize and Wheat
Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Maize Crop Leader
Kevin Pixley was born in Chicago, USA, and raised in
Puerto Rico, Argentina and Mexico. He obtained an M.Sc.
degree in crop physiology at the University of Florida,
studying groundnut response and coping mechanisms to
fungal foliar diseases. His Ph.D. in plant breeding
is from Iowa State University, where he studied inheritance of test weight
in oat. Kevin joined CIMMYT in 1990 and began working
on quality protein maize (QPM) as a postdoctoral fellow.
In 1993 he was posted to Harare, Zimbabwe, where he
currently is maize breeder and CIMMYT regional representative
for southern Africa. His research program focuses on
nutritional enhancement (QPM, pro-vitamin A, Fe, Zn)
and postharvest insect resistance.
Contact: K.Pixley@CGIAR.org
|
