Jan Low

{{short description|American food scientist}}

File:Jan Low.jpg

Jan Low (born 1955{{cite web |title=2016: Andrade, Bouis, Low and Mwanga |url=https://www.worldfoodprize.org/en/laureates/20102019_laureates/2016_andrade_bouis_low_and_mwanga/ |publisher=World Food Prize |access-date=1 June 2021 |language=en-us}}) is an American food scientist. She is known for her work helping develop the biofortified orange-fleshed sweet potato at the CGIAR International Potato Center, for which she was a co-recipient of the 2016 World Food Prize{{cite news |last1=Kitterman |first1=Sam |title=Dr. Jan Low Fights Global Malnutrition With Sweet Potatoes |url=https://cornellsun.com/2016/08/23/dr-jan-low-fights-global-malnutrition-with-sweet-potatoes/ |access-date=1 June 2021 |work=The Cornell Daily Sun |date=2016-08-23}} alongside Maria Andrade, Robert Mwanga, and Howarth Bouis.{{cite news |last1=Kinver |first1=Mark |title=Sweet potato Vitamin A research wins World Food Prize |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37619154 |access-date=1 June 2021 |work=BBC News |date=2016-10-13}}

Early life and education

Low was born in 1955 in Denver, Colorado. She attended Pomona College and spent four years in Zaire with the Peace Corps before earning a doctorate in agricultural economics at Cornell University in 1994.

Career

File:Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato Value Chain (23463701639).jpg

After Cornell, Low began working at the Nairobi office of the CGIAR International Potato Center, a research center based in Lima, Peru. She helped develop the biofortified orange-fleshed sweet potato, which contains more vitamin A than the dominant variant, and can therefore be used to help alleviate the vitamin A deficiency common among children in the region.

Recognition

References