Created in 2014, the International Foundation of Mediterranean Diet (IFMeD) is a pole of MULTI-DISCIPLINARY KNOWLEDGE and EXPERTISE internationally recognized for the RE-VALORIZATION of the Mediterranean Diet.
IFMeD rounds up subjects interested in enhancing Mediterranean Diet at 360°, tangible and recognizable scientific vehicle of added value for the whole community: institutions, universities and research centers, industries and consumers.
IFMeD aims to raise public awareness of healthy and sustainable nutrition, making it a central issue, and to promote the international cooperation agreements with actors both public and private stakeholders to support and pursue the values and benefits of the Mediterranean Diet.

GOVERNANCE

IFMeD develops its programs with the support of various bodies which provide its governance and vouch for its transparency.

BOARD

The board share a commitment to the goals and objectives of IFMeD.

Sandro Dernini

General Secretary of IFMeD

He is the founder and coordinator of the Forum on Mediterranean Food Cultures and, since 2002, he has fostered an enduring multidisciplinary dialogue among international experts, from different fields and from all over the Mediterranean area. Dr. Dernini received in 1974 his Doctor’s degree in Biology from the University of Cagliari (Italy) and in 1997 his Ph.D. from the School of Education of New York University. In 2007, he was appointed by the Minister of Agriculture of Italy as a member of the Italian Technical Committee for the inclusion of the Mediterranean Diet in the UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. From 2007 to 2010, dr. Dernini was the Head of the Office of the President of the Italian National Research Institute on Food and Nutrition. From 2009 to the present time, Dr. Dernini is a consultant at FAO on sustainable diets and sustainable food systems.and has published studies on Mediterranean diet as a case study for the assessment of the sustainability of diets.

INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

It works in order to analize, validate and update scientific information, to monitor and provide trend studies and proved scientific reports.

Elliot Berry

International Scientific Committee Chairperson

His research interests include the sociotype and coping with chronic disease, the bio-psycho-social problems of weight regulation, the Mediterranean diet and the effects of nutrition on cognitive function. He has been a visiting scientist at MIT, Rockefeller, Cambridge and Yale Universities. A former Director of the Braun School of Public Health, and the Dept of Human Nutrition, as well as Head of the WHO Center in Capacity Building in the Faculty of Medicine, Jerusalem. He worked as a Consultant at the FAO, Rome 2013-4 on the metrics of Food Security and Sustainability.

Javier Aranceta

University of Navarra
Spain

Rekia Belahsen

Chouaib Doukkali University, El Jadida
Morocco

Barbara Burlingame

Massey University, Palmerstone North
New Zealand

Roberto Capone

CIHEAM – International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies, Bari
Italy

Dolorores Corella

University of Valencia and CIBER Fisiopatologia del Obesidad y Nutricion, Valencia
Spain

Sandro Dernini

Forum on Mediterranean Food Cultures, Rome
Italy

Lorenzo Maria Donini

CIISCAM – Inter-University International Centre of Mediterranean Food Cultures Studies, Rome; Sapienza University of Rome
Italy

Carlo La Vecchia

Dept. Of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan
Italy

Denis Lairon

Aix-Marseille University
France

Luis Serra Majem

University of Las Palmas of Gran Canaria
Spain

Xavier Medina

Open University of Catalunya, Barcelona
Spain

Alexandre Meybeck

FAO- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome
Italy

Gulden Pekcan

Department of Nutrition and Dietetic, Hacettepe University, Ankara
Turkey

Suzanne Piscopo

Department of Health, Physical Education & Consumer Studies, Faculty of Education, University of Malta
Malta

Antonia Trichopoulou

Hellenic Health Foundation, Athens
Greece

Agneta Yngve

School of Hospitality, Culinary Arts and Meat Science, Őrebro University, Őrebro
Sweden

EXECUTIVE PARTNER

The agency SPRIM (www.sprim.com) has been selected by IFMeD Board as operative partner for the operations and the communication, through globally, regionally and locally representative office.

OUR COMMITMENT

to enhance and advance Mediterranean Diet as an healthy and sustainable lifestyle model, while at the same time protecting and safeguarding the traditional Mediterranean Diet as an intangible cultural heritage;

to act as an international pole of multi-disciplinary knowledge and expertise on the Mediterranean Diet;

to operate internationally as an independent guarantor for scientific, economic and institutional actors interested in supporting and pursuing the Mediterranean Diet, for its cross-cutting nutrition/health, environment, economic and sociocultural values and benefits;

to be internationally a well-recognized scientific and inspiring professional benchmark on the Mediterranean Diet promoting and developing events, research projects, policies, training and initiatives of scientific divulgation and technical cooperation, both on a national and global scale;

to valorize the Mediterranean healthy foods and the variety of the Mediterranean food cultures, expressed by the editerranean Diet;

to encourage intercultural dialogues and exchanges between the Mediterranean Diet heritage and other food cultural heritages, in different parts of the world, to increase mutual understanding with the underpinning goal to contribute to the improvement of the well-being of humankind.