Caree Cotwright
Director of Nutrition Security and Health Equity, USDA
Dr. Caree Jackson Cotwright serves as the Director of Nutrition Security and Heath Equity for the Food and Nutrition Service at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). In this role, Dr. Cotwright leads a whole-of-Department approach to advancing food and nutrition security. She also serves as one of two Departmental representatives on accelerating action on the historic White House Conference goals and implementing the corresponding National Strategy. She also leads the department efforts to reach the Secretary's goal of making MyPlate a household name. Dr. Cotwright is on leave as an Associate Professor of Nutritional Sciences in the University of Georgia’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences’ Department of Nutritional Sciences. Her research centers on promoting healthy eating among infants through age five-years-old with a particular focus on accelerating health equity among historically underserved populations via community-based participatory research and focusing on developing, implementing, evaluating, and sustaining best practices and policies in the early child education setting. From 2010-2013, she was an ORISE Research Fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she was highly engaged in the early care education elements of the First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative. Dr. Cotwright holds a PhD in Foods and Nutrition and Community Nutrition and MS in Foods and Nutrition both from the University of Georgia and a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Howard University and is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. She lives in the Atlanta, GA area with her loving husband and adorable three daughters.
