Welcome to UC Davis Foods for Health Institute

The Foods for Health Institute (FFHI) at the University of California at Davis is a major campus initiative that includes research, outreach and teaching programs in the arena of food and health. It seeks to build on UC Davis' strengths and integrates across departments, schools and colleges to actively create multi-disciplinary research programs, as well as, faculty to faculty and faculty to industry, research partnerships. FFHI interests span from agricultural and food sciences to the clinical assessment of food components.

The core components of the FFHI include research and outreach in the arenas of: Medicinal Nutrition, Food Engineering and Processing, Quality of Life, and Policy Analysis and Education Methods. The FFHI includes 90+ participating faculty and programs from the School of Medicine, the School of Veterinary Medicine, the School of Engineering, the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the College of Biological Science, the College of Letters and Science, the USDA Western Human Nutrition Center (WHNRC) and will interface actively with other related institutes and programs on campus. It includes a Corporate Affiliate Program and a Research Consortia; both target the emerging needs of the food and health industry and are geared toward actively engaging industry in university research.

The institute's infrastructure is designed to foster and support the development of substantial, long-term research collaborations and partnerships in the area of food and health. The FFHI places high priority on strategic planning, collaboration, technology transfer, and the generation of highly trained graduates at all levels to meet academic and industrial human resources needs.

MRC Greenwood, Ph.D.

Director's Message

The Foods for Health Institute is one of the most exciting initiatives I have had the pleasure of leading. In response to the increasing cost of medical care, a new preventative health paradigm has developed that is connecting medicine, health, agriculture, food, and engineering.

Diet is increasingly viewed as both the cause and solution for numerous health problems. Big challenges, like mass-scale malnutrition, increasing chronic diseases, radically shifting agricultural patterns, needs and practices, development of new food and beverages, and the process for development of innovative products require perspectives that transcend individual disciplines in order to solve them.

Solutions to these challenges require unprecedented collaboration between interdisciplinary teams. We are at the leading edge of an exciting new field, and the key to our success is taking a team-based approach to the science.

Our Core Competencies

• World-class Faculty
• Dedicated Students
• Cutting-edge Research
• Building partnerships
• Accelerating Innovations
• Influencing Policy
• Progressive Foods
• Improving Health and Wellness