Biography
Jo Anne Shatkin, Ph.D. is Founder and President of Vireo Advisors, a small business focused on regulatory, market, and safety strategies for novel bio-based and nanoscale technology commercialization. Vireo guides private and public organizations internationally to evaluate the impacts of novel bio-based and nanoscale ingredients and related products, reducing commercialization risk through strategic development of safety testing approaches and studies, engaging key stakeholders to ensure regulatory success, and builds collaborative projects, including among competitors to address common safety issues. She leads the Alliance for Food Safety Acceptance of Fibrillated and Crystalline Celluloses, a public private partnership focused on safety and regulatory work for micro and nano celluloses, and the Cultured Meat Safety Initiative, aiming to advance safety knowledge to derisk commercialization of products of cellular agriculture.
Jo Anne has served as an expert to several international committees on safety, including the 2022 FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on the Scientific Advice on Cell-Based Food Products and Food Safety Considerations, the joint WHO/FAO Expert Panel on Nanotechnology in Food, the Canadian Council of Academies, the National Academy of Sciences Committee for the quadrennial review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), and the US/Russia Bilateral Commission for Science and Technology Nanotechnology Environmental Health and Safety Panel. Jo Anne received an Individually Designed Ph.D. in Environmental Health Science and Policy and her MA in Risk Management and Technology Assessment from Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts and possesses a BS degree from Worcester Polytechnic University in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology.