Barbara Kowalcyk Ph.D., M.A.

Barbara Kowalcyk, Ph.D., M.A., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences and the Director of the Food Policy Institute at George Washington University's (GW's) Milken Institute School of Public Health. She also has an appointment in the U.S. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and is a fellow with the Sumner M. Redstone Global Center for Prevention and Wellness.

Dr. Kowalcyk's research spans a range of topics related to food safety and infectious foodborne disease, and their intersection with nutrition security. She has extensively used epidemiologic methods, data analytics, and risk analysis to assess food safety risks and potential intervention strategies in both the U.S. and the Global South. Prior to joining GW in 2023, Dr. Kowalcyk was faculty at Ohio State University with appointments in the Department of Food Science and Technology and the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, and directed the Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention (CFI), a nonprofit organization she co-founded in 2006. Prior to joining OSU, she was a senior food safety and public health scientist at RTI International and a research assistant professor in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Science at North Carolina State University.

Dr. Kowalcyk holds a B.A. degree in mathematics from the University of Dayton, an M.A. degree in Applied Statistics from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Health from the University of Cincinnati. She has served on many national committees, including two National Academy of Sciences committees and her current appointment to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) Science Board.

Data Culture as a Preventive Control

The real challenge today is not simply having access to data; it is making sense of it

Barbara Kowalcyk Ph.D., M.A.

July 6, 2026

This article examines the importance of data culture—including data leadership, data literacy, data governance, data strategy, data access, and data communication—for supporting risk-based food safety systems.

Live: November 17, 2026 at 11:00 am EST: Attend this webinar to explore practical ways food processors can modernize sanitation verification and microbiological testing while keeping workflows simple and effective.

Live: December 2, 2026 at 11:00 am EST: Attend this webinar to understand why chlorine dioxide is not chlorine, and what “ultra-pure” means for residues, byproducts, and effectiveness.

Live: December 3, 2026 at 11:00 am EST: This webinar will cover best practices for reviewing, refining, and governing AI-generated training content for accuracy and consistency.

Barbara Kowalcyk Ph.D., M.A.

ARTICLES

Data Culture as a Preventive Control

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