Dr. Lorrene D. Ritchie is the Director of the Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) and a Cooperative Extension Specialist in the University of California’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The NPI conducts and evaluates research related to the impact of nutrition on public health, with a focus on federal nutrition assistance programs, including the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); the Child and Adult Care Food Program; and the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. She has a M.S. and a Ph.D. in Nutritional Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley, and also is a registered dietitian. She has devoted 30 years to research topics related to pediatric nutrition and obesity prevention through programs, policies, systems, and environmental change approaches. She has presented over a hundred papers at national scientific and professional meetings and has been asked to testify in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., on policy-relevant research findings.