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Marcia Ishii-Eiteman

Fellow

Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, a Senior Fellow with the Oakland Institute, is a Senior Scientist and Director of the Grassroots Science Program at Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA). PANNA’s Grassroots Science Program facilitates community engagement in the use of scientific tools and processes in order to strengthen community-based advocacy for social change and build public authority over policy and public resources. Ishii-Eiteman’s specific campaign activities at PANNA focus on supporting and strengthening agroecology movements and policies in the U.S. and globally, and challenging corporate power and influence in agriculture with a focus on the biotech/pesticide industry and herbicide-resistant genetically engineered seeds.

Before joining PANNA in 1996, Ishii-Eiteman worked in Asia and Africa in rural development projects for over 12 years, facilitating government-farmer-NGO collaborations on sustainable agriculture in Southeast Asia and developing a farmer-based ecological pest management education project in Thailand. Previously, she worked on agricultural livelihood projects in Somali refugee camps and on women's health and literacy projects with Khmer refugees. Her doctoral research focused on Thai farmers' rice cultivation practices and biological control of rice insect pests. Ishii-Eiteman holds a PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology from Cornell University and a BA in women's studies and politics from Yale University. She has written extensively on the ecological, social and political dimensions of food and agriculture and was a lead author of the UN-sponsored International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development.