IFPRI Director General, Shenggen Fan, announced today that John McDermott has been named as Director of the new CGIAR (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) research program on Agriculture for Improved Nutrition and Health.

McDermott, who played a key role in the collaborative process to develop the program proposal, is the deputy director general and the director of research at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). He has worked in livestock development and animal and public health in developing countries for over 20 years as a professor, researcher, and manager. He has also been a professor of veterinary epidemiology at the University of Guelph. His main contributions have been in the areas of infectious disease control, quantitative veterinary epidemiology, and modeling of infectious disease transmission.

John McDermott officially joins the IFPRI staff on October 31, 2011.