Michael F. Jacobson holds a BA in chemistry from the University of Chicago and a PhD in microbiology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After graduating from MIT, Jacobson moved to Washington, DC, to volunteer with Ralph Nader. He soon met James Sullivan and Albert Fritsch, two other Nader’s Raiders with doctorates, and the three created a new nonprofit organization, the Center for Science in the Public Interest. CSPI’s main focus has been to educate consumers and advocate for improved government policies and corporate practices related to nutrition and health. Jacobson began his work in Washington by writing books about food additives and nutrition and has been working ever since to improve the healthfulness of the food supply. He and CSPI led efforts to ban trans fat, win passage of the that put Nutrition Facts labels on food packages and calorie counts on menus of chain restaurants, improve the nutritional quality of school foods, stop many deceptive food ads and labels, and focus public attention on health harms from sugar drinks and salt. After serving as the co-director or executive director of CSPI for more than four decades, he is now a Senior Scientist at the organization.