Dr. Denise Eblen
Dr. Denise Eblen was named administrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) since December 2024. In this role, Dr. Eblen oversees FSIS and the fulfillment of its public health mission. She advances the agency’s vision and goals, leading innovative solutions to challenges in FSIS. Dr. Eblen is responsible for the successful planning and implementation of FSIS’ Strategic Goals — 1: Prevent Foodborne Illness and Protect Public Health; 2: Transform Inspection Strategies, Policies and Scientific Approaches to Improve Public Health and 3: Achieve Operational Excellence.
Drawing from 25 years of experience at USDA, Dr. Eblen plays a key role in steering FSIS in its efforts to use science-based decision making to modernize the agency’s inspection strategies, policies and approaches to improve public health.
Dr. Eblen first joined FSIS in 2001 as a food safety fellow supporting the agency’s food safety and public health priorities. In 2018, she was selected as assistant administrator for the Office of Public Health Science (OPHS) at USDA FSIS after serving as acting deputy assistant administrator for OPHS from 2013 to 2015. While leading OPHS, Dr. Eblen provided expertise in scientific analysis, including oversight of FSIS laboratories and testing of regulatory samples, risk assessment and outbreak investigation and response.
In addition to her work with FSIS, Dr. Eblen has held roles with USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). In 2015, Dr. Eblen joined NIFA as deputy director. She led NIFA’s Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition, which supports research, education and extension activities in food safety, food quality, nutrition and obesity. Dr. Eblen previously held the position of research associate with ARS, where she studied the safety of produce.
Dr. Eblen holds a doctorate degree in food safety microbiology from the University of Ulster at Jordanstown, a Master of Science in food science from Queen’s University Belfast and a Bachelor of Science in human nutrition from the University of Ulster at Coleraine, in Northern Ireland.