Christine Lewis Taylor, Ph.D., Scientific Consultant (Contractor)
Dr. Christine Taylor joined the Office of Dietary Supplements in April 2011. Her responsibilities have focused on the organization of activities to identify a scientific basis for use of biomarkers to assess nutritional status risk, to clarify the application of nutritional requirements, and to outline the use of systematic evidence-based reviews to address nutrition issues.
Prior to joining ODS, Dr. Taylor was a Scholar in Nutrition from 2006 through 2010 at the Institute of Medicine (IOM), an arm of the National Academy of Sciences. During her time at the IOM she served as study director for four major reports ranging in topics from Dietary Reference Intakes for calcium and vitamin D to strategies for reducing sodium in the American diet.
From 1985 through 2006 Dr. Taylor was a scientist with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In 2000 she was named Director of the Office of Nutritional Products, Labeling and Dietary Supplements at FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. In this capacity, she oversaw a staff of more than 50 scientists who were responsible for research, regulation and enforcement related to nutrition issues and dietary supplements within the provisions of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. During this time she also served as lead of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations-sponsored Codex Alimentarius Committee on Nutrition Labeling. From 2004 to 2006 FDA assigned Dr. Taylor to the World Health Organization where she worked on the topic of approaches for determining dietary supplement safety.
Dr. Taylor received her B.S. degree from the University of Connecticut in microbiology and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in nutrition from The Pennsylvania State University. In completing her Ph.D. requirements she undertook a minor in statistics and developed groundbreaking work using statistical patterns in modeling food choice behaviors. At the time she joined FDA, she enlisted as an officer in the Public Health Services Commission Corps where she reached the rank of Captain. Before moving into an executive position at FDA, Dr. Taylor's early work a focused on the application of dietary recommendations to food regulations as well as approaches for implementing the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act and the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act.
Dr. Taylor is the recipient of numerous awards from FDA, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Public Health Services Commissioned Corps. She received The Pennsylvania State University's Outstanding Alumni award in nutrition and has been inducted into the Alumni Fellows. Dr. Taylor has taken part in invited lectureships such as the University of Massachusetts Endresen Series and the International Council on Amino Acid Science Annual Dialogues. She is the author of articles in professional journals and textbooks, and has been an invited speaker at professional meetings in the U.S. and internationally.