2025 Wharton Award recipient Dr. Low is a true believer in the power of biofortification to make a difference to human health in low income countries. Dr. Low obtained her doctorate in agricultural economics at Cornell University, minoring in nutrition. Having worked over 30 years in sub-Saharan Africa, her research effort has focused on working with multi-disciplinary teams to develop and promote biofortified orange-fleshed sweetpotato to combat vitamin A deficiency. During her 20 years at the International Potato Center (CIP), based in their regional office for Africa, she managed the 10-year Sweetpotato Action for Security and Health in Africa (SASHA) research project and co-led the Sweetpotato for Profit and Health Initiative (SPHI) that reached 6.3 million African households in 15 target countries with improved varieties of sweetpotato, promoting their diversified use. She also worked for the International Food Policy Research Institute and Michigan State University as a researcher and policy advisor in Mozambique. Dr. Low has served as President of the African Potato Association (APA) from 2011-2013. In 2016, along with two CIP sweetpotato breeders (Maria Andrade and Robert Mwanga) and Howarth Bouis of HarvestPlus, Dr. Low was awarded the World Food Prize for her work on biofortification. Currently, she is Managing Director of JWLOW Limited (Nairobi, Kenya) and is supporting several innovation teams to develop their scaling delivery strategies.
