Judith Chambers is the Director for the Program for Biosafety Systems in the Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit. Her international team supports interested partner countries in Africa and Asia on the technical development and implementation of evidence-based biosafety systems and independent decision-making for the use of precision genetics to support innovative agriculture research and products.

Dr. Chambers began her professional journey with a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Pennsylvania where she studied the molecular action of various animal viruses related to HIV. Her postdoctoral studies were conducted at an entrepreneurial biotech company, where she focused on agriculture applications and specifically on the molecular characterization of Bt genes (CryIF) for insect pest control. For the next two decades, she served in various public and private sector positions where she developed and managed initiatives to ensure that the opportunities of biotechnology could be applied to the agricultural issues facing many developing countries. She served as the Senior Biotechnology Advisor at USAID and co-developed the first public-private sector initiative on agriculture biotechnology to support developing country agriculture needs. At a former private agriculture biotechnology company, she served as Director for International Government Affairs and supported the company’s philanthropic efforts to share its proprietary technology with resource poor, small-scale farmers who work every day to bridge the food security gap.

Dr. Chambers has devoted her career to ensuring that the technical and policy systems are in place to expand farmer choice and technology access. Her long history of involvement with agriculture biotechnology and development has provided her with a reflective global insight on how evidence-based decision-making supports agricultural genetic innovations on behalf of resource poor farmers and consumers.