Francesco Branca Director Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, World Health Organization (WHO)

Francesco Branca is the Director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety in the World Health Organization based in Geneva (since February 2020).

From 2008 to 2019, Dr. Branca was the Director of the Department of Nutrition for Health and Development. During this period, WHO has developed a WHO nutrition strategy, established a new nutrition guideline development process and has developed a Comprehensive Implementation Plan on Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition with six global targets. Dr. Branca has been leading the preparation of the 2nd International Conference on Nutrition and the Secretariat of the Decade of Action on Nutrition. From 2005 to 2008, he was the Regional Advisor for Nutrition at the WHO Regional Office for Europe.

Between 1988 and 2005, Dr. Branca was a Senior Scientist at the Italian Food and Nutrition Research Institute where he was leading studies on the effects of food and nutrients on human health at the different stages of the life cycle and on the impact of public health nutrition programmes. He was President of the Federation of the European Nutrition Societies from 2003 to 2007.

In 1985 and 1986, Dr. Branca was part of a medical staff of a primary health care project in the south of Somalia ran by the Italian NGO CISP.

Dr. Branca graduated in medicine and surgery and specialized in diabetology and metabolic diseases at the University Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma and obtained an Msc and a PhD in Nutrition at Aberdeen University.