Allen Levine, Ph.D.

DIRECTOR, EX OFFICIO

Allen Levine, Ph. D., is dean of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences at the University of Minnesota. Prior to this position, he was head of the Department of Food Science and Nutrition. He is also director of the Minnesota Obesity Center, a National Institutes of Health funded collaborative research group of over 55 federally funded investigators from the University, Mayo Clinic, Minneapolis VA Medical Center, Health Partners and Hennepin County Medical Center.

Levine finds great value in the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council, especially as a dean of a college devoted to food, agriculture and natural resources. The Council’s board includes leaders from all sectors of production agriculture and food companies in Minnesota. He says meeting on a regular basis with leaders that are dedicated to Minnesota agriculture is extremely important for a university dean.

His research focus for the past 25 years has been on neural regulation of food intake, particularly related to the opioid peptides and Neuropeptide Y. He has published over 275 scientific papers and over 85 review articles, editorials and book reviews.

Levine has served on a variety of editorial boards and national organizations, including American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Journal of Nutrition, NAASO (ethics committee chair), SSIB (treasurer and now president-elect), ASNS, APA, and ILSI. He has been on the advisory groups of various food and pharmaceutical corporations including the Dannon Institute, Best Foods and the International Life Sciences Institute. He also has experience with non-profit corporations having been on the boards and served as president or executive director of five non-profit organizations.

Levine has received the American Institute of Nutrition Mead Johnson Award and American College of Nutrition Grace A. Goldsmith Award. He also was named as an America Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow.

A native of Newark, N.J., Levine received a bachelor’s of arts degree in botany from Rutgers University. At the University of Minnesota, he earned a master’s of science in botany (related fields in microbiology and limnology) and a Ph.D. in nutrition with a minor in food science. He also held a NIH Fellowship with the University of Minnesota Department of Medicine.