Dr. KatieRose McCullough serves as a director of regulatory and scientific affairs at the Meat Institute, where she provides expertise on a variety of topics, including meat science, meat quality and composition, sensory, spoilage, food safety, pathogen control and detection, intervention technologies, microbial ecology, public health, diet and health, epidemiology and more.

As the meat scientist for NAMI, McCullough works to ensure policies are created on a sound science-based foundation. McCullough also collaborates with other associations and represents the Meat Institute in different scientific forums. McCullough also serves as the Senior Science Advisor to the Foundation for Meat and Poultry Research and Education, working with industry to fund projects and develop research priorities related to food safety, product quality and nutritional sciences. She also acts as the staff liaison for the Scientific Affairs Committee and assists in managing the NAMI Scholarship Foundation, which funds multiple scholarships for undergraduate students annually.

Prior to joining the Meat Institute, McCullough designed and conducted research studies related to pathogen reduction, system validation, molecular pathogen identification, shelf-life, sensory, and carcass optimization. McCullough also has experience in public health epidemiology, and foodborne outbreaks investigation.

McCullough received her Bachelor of Science in Animal Science from Texas Tech University, her Master of Science in Animal Science from Oklahoma State University with research focusing on meat quality and her Doctorate of Philosophy in Animal Science from Colorado State University with her research focusing on food safety. McCullough also holds a Master’s in Public Health from the Colorado School of Public Health focusing on Animals, People and the Environment.