Science Leadership Team

HUGO CAMPOS

Title: Deputy Director General, Research

Citizenship: Chile

Location: Lima, Peru

Profile Summary: Hugo Campos is Interim Deputy Director General for Research and Development at the International Potato Center. He has 25+ years of international experience working in several Latin-American countries, Sub Saharan Africa, US and UK. Most of his professional career has focused on molecular breeding – the intersection between plant breeding and biotechnology – with an explicit goal of delivering superior varieties and increase the efficacy and efficiency of plant breeding programs, and in developing commercially relevant drought tolerant varieties. He is experienced in diverse crop species such as sugarcane, maize, soybeans, canola, potato, sweetpotato and wheat. He is an advanced practitioner of topics such as innovation and entrepreneurship from a private standpoint. In addition to playing a direct role leading plant breeding international teams, Hugo has written/edited four books to date, which overall have been sold/downloaded in excess of 300,000 times, and is in the process of publishing his fifth book. He is a Chilean national and holds a PhD from the John Innes Centre, UK, an MBA from Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile, and a Professional Certificate in Innovation & Entrepreneurship from Standord University (USA).

Languages: Spanish, English

JAN W. LOW

Area: Sub-Saharan Africa Sweetpotato Program

Title: Principal Scientist, Leader of the Sweetpotato for Profit and Health Initiative, Sweetpotato Action for Security and Health in Africa Project Leader

Citizenship: Unites States of America

Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Profile Summary: Jan Low has worked for over 25 years in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Having majored in agricultural economics with a minor in nutrition during her doctoral studies at Cornell University, it is not surprising that her major research interest is the integration of nutritional concerns into agricultural projects and programming. While a post-doc at the International Potato Center (CIP) (1994-1996), she spearheaded the Center’s initial work on orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) in SSA. Subsequently, while an associate professor at Michigan State University, she led the first community-level study to demonstrate that an integrated OFSP-led agriculture-nutrition intervention could improve vitamin A intakes and status among young children. The subsequent paper won the CGIAR outstanding scientific article in 2007. Returning to CIP as its Regional Leader for SSA in late 2005, Jan led the expansion of CIP’s program in the region from two to ten countries. In 2010, with the funding of CIP’s largest project to date, Sweetpotato Action for Security and Health in Africa (SASHA), and the launching of the 10 year Sweetpotato for Profit and Health Initiative, Jan stepped down as Regional Leader to focus her energies on leading and growing CIP’s sweetpotato research for development program in SSA. In October 2010, she was appointed as a principal scientist. From 2011 through 2013, Jan served as the president of the African Potato Association (APA), with CIP and Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture hosting the successful 9th Triennial APA meeting in 2013. She currently leads a team of editors that is publishing 59 articles from that meeting as a CABI book: Potato and Sweetpotato in Africa: Transforming the Value Chains for Food and Nutrition Security.

Languages: English, Portuguese, French, Kiswahili

HANNELE LINDQVIST-KREUZE

Area: Genetics, Genomics and Crop Improvement

Title: Leader of the Genetics, Genomics and Crop Improvement

Citizenship: Finland

Location: Lima, Peru

Profile Summary: Hannele Lindqvist-Kreuze leads the potato and sweetpotato breeding programs at CIP as of January 2020. Her objective is to drive increased genetic gains of both potato and sweetpotato through the adoption of novel breeding approaches and modernization of the breeding program. The breeding products generated need to respond to customer needs to increase the adoption and dissemination of improved varieties.

Lindqvist-Kreuze has more than 15 years of experience in potato genomics, molecular breeding and pathology at CIP. She is originally from Finland and received her MSc in Agronomy (Plant Pathology) from the University of Helsinki and her PhD in Molecular Plant Pathology from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Languages: Finnish, English, Spanish

GUY HAREAU

Area: Social and Nutritional Sciences Division

Title: Principal Scientist, Social and Nutritional Sciences Division

Citizenship: Uruguay

Location: Lima, Peru

Profile Summary: Guy Hareau joined the International Potato Center (CIP) in 2008 to work on priority setting and impact assessment of technological change in agriculture. From 2008 to 2011, he was member of a research team that looked at outcomes and impacts of participatory research methods in Latin America. Between 2012 and 2014, he coordinated the group of impact assessment scientists from Bioversity International, International Center for Tropical Agriculture, CIP and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture that conducted a strategic assessment of research priorities for the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB). Currently, he focuses on foresight and strategic analysis and ex post impact assessment studies. He is principal investigator of the Global Futures and Strategic Foresight project at CIP, a multi-center initiative under the CGIAR Research Program on Policy, Institutions and Markets (PIM) led by the International Food Policy Research Institute. He has also been CIP’s focal point for PIM since 2012. He leads a research team estimating release and adoption of improved potato and sweet potato varieties in China, India and seven other countries in Asia. He is working on estimating adoption determinants and impacts of improved potato varieties in Peru and China. He is also studying how to assess impacts of ex situ conservation of genetic resources. Prior to joining CIP, Guy worked with the National Agricultural Research Institute in his home country Uruguay, where he got his degree of Agricultural Engineer. He holds a MSc (2002) in Agricultural Economics and a PhD in Economics-Agriculture (2006) from Virginia Tech, United States.

Languages: Spanish, French, English

JAN KREUZE

Area: Crop and Systems Science Division

Title: Leader, Crop and Systems Science Division

Citizenship: Sweden

Location: Lima, Peru

Profile Summary: Jan Kreuze, an Swedish national, has been leading the crop protection team, and particularly the virology area, where he develops most of his work. Since joining the International Potato Center in 2003, he has led different projects and activities globally to ensure the delivery of donor commitments and continuity of funding stream.

Languages: Spanish, English, Swedish

JORGE ANDRADE PIEDRA

Area: Global Potato Agri-Food System Program

Title: Interim Director

Citizenship: Ecuador

Location: Lima, Peru

Profile Summary: Jorge Andrade is the ad interim director of the Global Potato Agri-Food System Program where he leads an innovative portfolio of research and development projects designed to intensify, diversify and strengthen the resilience of agri-food systems with potato-related technologies. He is responsible for setting priorities that respond to changing country, regional and global demands and that contribute to the International Potato Center (CIP) and CGIAR long-term strategic objectives and goals.

Jorge has over 20 years of experience in leadership roles agricultural research and development with small-scale potato farmers in the Andes with CIP and Ecuador’s Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias. He is a member of the American Phytopathological Society and the Latin-American Potato Society. His research interests include epidemiology of potato late blight, seed systems, and innovation systems.

Jorge holds a PhD in Plant Pathology with minors in Epidemiology and International Agriculture from Cornell University, a M.Sc. in Plant Pathology from La Molina University in Lima, Peru and a B.Sc. in Agronomy from Central University in Quito, Ecuador. His did post-doctorate studies in Cornell University and at CIP.

MARIA ANDRADE

Area: Crop Improvement Science Division Breeding

Title: Leader for sweetpotato breeding in Africa

Citizenship: Cape Verde

Location: Maputo, Mozambique

Profile Summary: As leader of sweetpotato breeding in Africa, Maria Andrade provides programmatic oversight for the research and development portfolio and provides leadership in operational systems.

She joined the International Potato Center in 2006 where she managed the Sweetpotato Action for Security and Health in Africa (SASHA) Southern Africa Sweetpotato Support Platform bringing together sweetpotato breeders from Malawi, Zambia, South Africa, Madagascar, Mozambique and Angola, with a research emphasis on breeding drought-tolerant sweetpotato varieties. Since then, she has released 30 biofortified sweetpotato varieties of which 20 are drought tolerant.

Hugely successful, she has received numerous international awards for her innovative work in helping combat micronutrient deficiency and food insecurity with biofortified orange-fleshed sweetpotato, including the 2016 World Food Prize and the 2017 M.S. Swaminathan Award for Environment Protection. This work has also been recognized by the Mozambican government which has added recognizes biofortified sweetpotato as a food and nutrition security crop. These drought tolerant varieties have reached more half million farmers who have adopted them and are making profit selling the roots and the vines.

Maria holds BSc and MSc from the University of Arizona, and a PhD from the North Carolina State University plant breeding. She has 30 years of working experience in Africa where Her research interests include crop improvement, technology transfer, improving seed systems and the enhancement of value chains for income-generation.

Languages: Portuguese, english

VANIA AZEVEDO

Area: Biodiversity for the Future Global Program

Title: Leader of Biodiversity for the Future Global Program and Director of CIP Genebank

Citizenship: Brazil

Location: Lima, Peru

Profile Summary: As leader of the Biodiversity for the Future Global Program and director of the CIP Genebank, Vania Azevedo is responsible for the acquisition, conservation, characterization, and distribution of samples of the world’s largest in vitro collections of potato, sweetpotato, and Andean Root and Tuber Crops (ARTC), for the benefit of humanity. She ensures’ that the genebank team adheres to world-class standards and that the genebank complies with CIP and CGIAR’s mission, and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. She also collaborates with other organizations and genebanks across the globe in areas that include conservation, research, knowledge sharing, and capacity building.

A Brazilian national, Vania joined CIP in 2021, after working as the Genebank Head at the CGIAR International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), in Hyderbad, India. From ICRISAT headquarters, she coordinated activities in India, Zimbabwe and Niger. Prior to that, she worked for the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Embrapa, in the Genetic Resources and Biotechnology Unit, in Brasilia. Among her varied responsibilities there, she coordinated a system of more than 140 Genebanks across Brazil and represented Brazil at the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture at FAO. Vania holds a Ph.d. in Molecular Biology and two bachelor’s degrees in biology and business administration from the University of Brasilia.

Languages: Portuguese (mother language), English, Spanish