Montpellier, France
6 January 2025
CGIAR, the world’s largest publicly funded agrifood system research network, has appointed Dr. Sandra Milach to serve as its first Chief Scientist. In this role, Milach will lead CGIAR’s robust and transformative 2025-30 Research Portfolio, which connects a transdisciplinary network of scientists from across all 12 CGIAR Research Centers and engages with more than 3,000 partners.
Milach comes to CGIAR with an extensive background in international agricultural research and a passion for collaboration and creating sustainable food systems solutions. She is known for her efforts to modernize seed-breeding programs that enhance agricultural productivity for farmers and consumers.
“Dr. Milach is a visionary leader, committed to leveraging agricultural science to solve the most urgent global development problems we face today,” noted Dr. Ismahane Elouafi, Executive Managing Director of CGIAR. “We are delighted to welcome her as our first Chief Scientist, to drive CGIAR’s contributions to realizing the transformation of our food, land, and water systems in this time of climate crisis.”
Milach has served as a board member and consultant for organizations including the International Potato Center (CIP), the Soybean Innovation Lab, the SweetGains project, and the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research’s Crops of the Future Initiative. With a PhD in Plant Breeding and Genetics and over 10 years of experience in the public sector in Brazil (both University and EMBRAPA), Milach also brings private-sector experience, as Vice President of Global Breeding Technologies at Corteva Agriscience and as Research Director at DuPont Pioneer. She has been involved in work funded by organizations including the US Agency for International Development, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Brazilian Government.
“I am honored to join CGIAR in this new role at such a pivotal time for the organization and globally,” Milach said. “The need for impactful science-informed action to improve the lives of millions of smallholder farmers worldwide, and realize the ambition of the Sustainable Development Goals, is more urgent than ever, but working together with our partners, I am confident we can meet the challenge.”
As Chief Scientist, Milach will be responsible for delivering on the impact of CGIAR’s 2025-30 Research Portfolio, championing the collaboration and cross-disciplinary research needed to address complex global development challenges, and engaging closely with CGIAR’s vast and vital network of partners.
Milach officially joined CGIAR on 2 January 2025.
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