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Rajen S. Anand, Ph.D.
Dr. Rajen Anand has a unique combination of experience of
university teaching, chairing two academic Departments as well as
heading a Federal Agency. He has been passionately involved in
serving students at the university and working on public policy
issues both at the State and Federal levels for nearly two
decades.
On professional leave from California State University Long Beach
(CSULB), he served in the United States Department of Agriculture
(USDA) as Executive Director of the Center for Nutrition
Policy and Promotion in Washington DC from1995 to 2001. The
mission of the Center is to improve the health of Americans by
developing and promoting dietary guidance that links scientific
research to the nutritional needs of consumers. Under his
leadership, the Center released the 1995 and 2000 editions of
Dietary Guidelines for Americans, developed and issued a
Food Guide Pyramid for Young Children, ages 2-6, produced a
new Thrifty Food Plan, which sets the cash
allotment for Food Stamp recipients, reviewed and reported the
dietary Status of WIC participants, and developed a Healthy
Eating Index, a measure of overall diet quality of
individuals. The Center was a part of the Food, Nutrition and
Consumer Services, an agency with a $38 billion annual budget.
Prior to joining USDA, Dr Anand was at the California State
University, Long Beach since 1970, where he taught courses in
biology, human physiology, pathophysiology, and mammalian
metabolism. He also served as the founding chair of the
Department of Anatomy and Physiology (1985-1989) and chair of the
Department of Communicative Disorders (1990-1992). As head of the
Department at the University, Dr. Anand was responsible for
recruitment, evaluation and supervision of faculty and staff and
was a strong advocate and leader of the academic unit faculty. He
managed human and fiscal resources, developed budget, and carried
out other administrative operations.
Dr. Anand received his Ph.D. in physiology, biochemistry, and
nutrition from the University of California Davis in 1969. He
also holds a doctorate in veterinary medicine. He completed
post-doctoral fellowships at U.C. Davis in metabolism, and at the
UCLA Harbor Medical Center in pediatric endocrinology. Dr.
Anand’s research was in the area of energy metabolism,
particularly involving in-utero studies on the effect of maternal
nutrition on the developing fetus. He and his colleague
demonstrated for the first time that the fetus is incapable of
synthesizing glucose and is totally dependent on the maternal
supply. An induced hypoglycemia in the mother will lead to low
blood sugar in the fetus, and thus will affect its growth
potential. At USDA, his research dealt with the study of overall
diet quality and its linkage to chronic diseases among Americans.
Dr. Anand has lectured at the national and international
professional meetings as well as at many university campuses.
Dr. Anand is a member of the American Association for Advancement
of Science, American Physiological Society, American Society for
Nutritional Sciences, Sigma Xi, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, and
many other scientific organizations.
Among the most active members of the
faculty, Dr. Anand served on numerous university wide committees,
including the Academic Senate; Planning and Educational Policy;
College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Council, and Budget
Committee; Strategic Planning Committee; and Retention, Tenure
and Promotion Committee. He chaired the Asian & Pacific American
Forum and was Secretary of the California Faculty Association.
Dr. Anand has been honored with
several academic awards, including the Outstanding Professor
Award at the Long Beach campus (for excellence in teaching,
research and community service). He also was twice recipient of
the Meritorious Performance & Professional Promise Award. At U.C
Davis, he was bestowed with the Outstanding Student Award in 1967
and 1968, and the Hertzendorf Memorial Award in Physiology in
1969 (for academic achievements and humanitarian qualities). He
is listed in a number of bibliographic volumes.
Long involved in public policy issues
and community affairs, he has served as an officer of several
organizations: Asian and Pacific Americans in Higher Education
(vice president); National Federation of Indian American
Associations (secretary, vice president, executive vice
president); Indo-American Political Association (chair); Asian
American and Pacific Islander Caucus (vice chair and chair), and
many other organizations.
In 1994, Dr. Anand was appointed to
serve on the congressionally mandated 11- member National
Committee on Foreign Medical Education and Accreditation. He was
reappointed in 1997 and 2000 for additional 3-year terms ending
in the year 2002.
A free-lance journalist, Dr. Anand has
published over 350 news stories and articles in various
newspapers and magazines, in addition to his many scientific
papers in national and international journals.
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