Ann Marie McNamara is an American microbiologist and was formerly Vice President for Food Safety and Quality for the Supply Chain at

US Foods US Foods Holding Corp. (formerly known as U.S. Food service) is an American food service distributor founded in 1989. With approximately $24 billion in annual revenue, US Foods was the 10th largest private company in the US up until its IPO. ...

. She has received a Distinguished Service Award from the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

, and received the

International Association for Food Protection The International Association for Food Protection (IAFP), founded in 1911, is a non-profit association of food safety professionals based in Des Moines, Iowa. The organization claims a membership of over 3,000 members from 50 nations. The asso ...

Fellow Award in 2012 and Food Safety Award in 2022.

Early life and education

McNamara attended

Quinnipiac University Quinnipiac University ( ) is a private university in Hamden, Connecticut, United States. The university grants undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees. It also hosts the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. History What became ...

for undergraduate studies, where she coordinated the first screening program for

Tay–Sachs disease Tay–Sachs disease is an Genetic disorder, inherited fatal lysosomal storage disease that results in the destruction of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. The most common form is infantile Tay–Sachs disease, which becomes apparent arou ...

at any university in the United States. She earned her M.S degree at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

, with a focus on microbiology. In Minnesota, she completed a research project on the detection of antibodies to La Crosse encephalitis virus. McNamara earned her doctoral degree in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology at University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health. Her research studied the detection and eradication of ''

Legionella ''Legionella'' is a genus of gram-negative bacteria, gram-negative bacteria that can be seen using a silver stain or grown in a special media that contains cysteine, an amino acid. It is known to cause legionellosis (all illnesses caused by ''Legi ...

'' from hospital plumbing systems. After graduating, she joined the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency under the United S ...

as a postdoctoral resident in Public Health and Medical Microbiology. Her postdoctoral research focused on medical microbiology and epidemiology.

Research and career

McNamara was a Senior Staff Microbiologist at the

National Institutes of Health Clinical Center The NIH Clinical Center is a hospital solely dedicated to Medical research, clinical research at the National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda, Maryland. The Clinical Center, known as Building 10, consists of the original part of the hos ...

for two years before moving to the

as Director of Microbiology in 1992. At the time she joined the

Food Safety and Inspection Service The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is the public health regulatory agency responsible for ensuring that United States' commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg prod ...

the majority of focus was on chemical adulterants. McNamara's primary focus was developing molecular (

polymerase chain reaction The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a method widely used to make millions to billions of copies of a specific DNA sample rapidly, allowing scientists to amplify a very small sample of DNA (or a part of it) sufficiently to enable detailed st ...

) and immunological testing. She was a lead investigator at FSIS for the 1992-1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak. She was a co-author of the Pathogen Reduction/Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (PR/HACCP) rule, which required scientifically verifiable methods to reduce the prevalence of pathogenic microorganisms in meat and poultry products. McNamara joined

Sara Lee Corporation The Sara Lee Corporation was an American consumer-goods company based in Downers Grove, Illinois. The Sara Lee name was used of a number of frozen and packaged foods, often known for the long-running slogan "Everybody doesn't like something, b ...

in 1999, where she was responsible for food safety and the implementation of a ''listeria'' control project following a major Listeria outbreak. She established a food safety research fund at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

, and developed a program for Listeria control and environmental monitoring. She made use of her background in microbiology, testing food for pathogens and indicator organisms, and creating a risk-based testing program. McNamara worked as Vice President of Food Safety at Silliker, which later became

Mérieux NutriSciences Mérieux NutriSciences is a global company specializing in Food safety, quality, and sustainability testing, consulting, and training services. It is a subsidiary of Institut Mérieux and operates over 140 laboratories in approximately 32 cou ...

. At Silliker, she led the Research group doing process validation studies, and led the Consulting group conducting risk assessments, crisis management engagements and developing food safety plans. In 2008, McNamara was made Vice President of Food Safety at

Jack in the Box Jack in the Box, Inc. is an American fast food restaurant chain founded on February 21, 1951, by Robert O. Peterson in San Diego, California, where it is headquartered. The chain has over 2,200 locations, primarily serving the West Coast of t ...

, where she oversaw all food safety and quality assurance. She joined

Target Corporation Target Corporation is an American retail corporation that operates a chain of discount department stores and hypermarkets, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh-largest retailer in the United States, and a component of th ...

in 2017 as their first Vice-President of Food Safety.

Awards and honors

* 2012

Fellow Award * 2014 ''Food Safety Magazine'' Distinguished Service Award * 2018 International Association for Food Protection John H. Silliker Lecture * 2022 International Association for Food Protection Food Safety Award

Selected publications

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McNamara, Ann Marie Living people Quinnipiac University alumni American women microbiologists University of Minnesota alumni University of Pittsburgh alumni American microbiologists Year of birth missing (living people)