Speaker Biographies

Etta Saltos, Ph.D.

Etta Saltos is the Program Director for the “Improving Human Nutrition for Optimal Health” and “Ensuring Food Safety” programs within the National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program of USDA/CSREES. She also served as Program Director of the Consumer Food Choices Program in the agency’s Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems in 2000 and 2001. Before joining CSREES in 1999, she worked at USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion where she developed publications related to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and served on the team that produced the Food Guide Pyramid for Young Children. Prior to coming to USDA, she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Home Economics at East Tennessee State University. Saltos received a B.A. in Foods and Nutrition from Bluffton College in Ohio, a Master of Nutritional Sciences (M.N.S.) in Clinical Nutrition from Cornell University, and a Ph.D. in Human Nutrition from the Ohio State University. She is a Registered Dietitian and is a member of the American Dietetic Association, the Society for Nutrition Education, and the Institute of Food Technologists. She is also a member of USDA’s Human Nutrition Coordinating Committee.