Changemakers Forging a New Future for Food and Driving Impact Where It Matters Most
CAP-HAITIEN, HAITI – The World Food Prize Foundation has named Patricia B. Wolff, MD, founder of Meds & Food for Kids (MFK), to the 2025 Top Agri-food Pioneers (TAP). Dr. Wolff is the first and only physician to be recognized, and is among this year’s 39 visionary scientists, farmers, policy advisors, entrepreneurs, and humanitarians honored for driving bold and innovative solutions to the most pressing challenges in global food security.
“The 2025 TAP list showcases the extraordinary diversity, talent, and resolve of individuals working across borders and disciplines to build a more sustainable and just global food system,” said Mashal Husain, president of the World Food Prize Foundation. “In a world facing urgent and interwoven crises, these honorees are fearless changemakers driving impact where it matters most—and offering real hope for the future.”
The 2025 cohort represents a network of changemakers intended to be expanded each year to facilitate greater co-learning and collaboration across food systems.
“Our entire team is grateful for this international recognition and excited about this opportunity to spark innovation and accelerate adoption of locally led solutions proven to save lives, build resilience, and strengthen the local economy – even in the toughest conditions,” said Dr. Wolff.
In a country facing chronic malnutrition and instability, the MFK team has developed an internationally recognized model of sustainable, locally led development that incorporates agricultural innovation, local manufacturing, and nutrition science.
“This well-deserved recognition of Dr. Wolff’s early vision and lifelong work comes at a time when the international development community is searching for innovations that can deliver practical, achievable results,” said Chris Greene, MFK’s chief executive officer. “Effective local solutions like MFK are the most direct way to save children and the best path forward for global food security.”
Dr. Wolff founded MFK in 2003 to address the needless suffering and the deaths of children from malnutrition that she witnessed in Haiti. As a pediatrician and then-associate clinical professor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Dr. Wolff was committed to building a transformative agricultural-nutritional model that saves lives today while building sustainable food systems for tomorrow.
Dr. Wolff’s innovative model uses peanuts grown by Haitian smallholder farmers, creating a sustainable supply chain while transforming the agricultural economy. Over 22 years, MFK has treated more than one million children and pregnant mothers, and trained 3,800 farmers, while achieving international food safety standards.
Meds & Food for Kids’ factory in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, recently welcomed multiple international delegations of development experts, including Cindy McCain, executive director of the World Food Programme. They toured MFK’s modern, solar-powered RUTF manufacturing facility and met with MFK’s agronomists, clinical outreach teams, and logistics managers to explore how a local development model has been proven to work for more than two decades in one of the most chaotic environments in the world.