In 2014, Professor Rickey Yada was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Land and FoodSystems at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C. Prior to UBC, Dr. Yada was at the University of Guelph where he held numerous leadership roles, including Chair,Department of Food Science, Assistant Vice President Research, Canada Research Chair inFood Protein Structure, Scientific Director of the Advanced Foods and Materials Network(Networks of Centres of Excellence), and Founding Member of the Food Institute.

Dr. Yada is currently the North American Editor of Trends in Food Science and Technology as well as serving on the editorial board of several journals. He is the author of over 230refereed journal publications as well as numerous book chapters and books. His areas of research include the structure – function relationships of enzymes (aspartic proteases) and carbohydrate biochemistry as related to nutrition and food quality. Dr. Yada serves in a leadership capacity to several research and industry organizations, some of which includeBoard of Bioenterprise Inc.; Advisory Committee Member – Arrell Food Institute; Member of the Scientific Advisory Panels – Riddet Institute (New Zealand); and AgResearch (NewZealand). He is also a Past President and Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology and the International Academy of the International Union of Food Science and Technology, and is also a fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists. Dr. Yada has an honorary DSc from the University of Guelph and was the 2019 Harraways 1867 Visiting Professor, University of Otago, New Zealand.