Elsa Murano, now undersecretary for food safety, was 14 years of age before she learned to speak English. A native of Cuba, in 1961 Murano and her family were forced to emigrate to the island of Curacao with nothing but the clothes they were wearing.
Still, she says they were more fortunate than others caught up in Fidel Castro’s takeover of Cuban businesses. Murano’s father was an employee of IBM. “He had a job drawing a salary immediately, unlike people who had to go to Miami with nothing,” she said.

From Cuba, the family settled into a routine, moving from one Latin American IBM office to the next, until being transferred to Florida when Murano was 14. “That’s when I learned English,” she said.

After high school Murano made a series of decisions about her education that wound up making her Secretary Ann M. Veneman’s logical choice for USDA’s top food safety officer (the Sept.-Dec. 2001 issue of the USDA News carried her complete biographical sketch, following her swearing-in to that position). A microbiologist with undergraduate and graduate degrees, the pinnacle of her education was earning a Ph.D. degree in food safety from Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg.

“It was actually my husband Peter’s suggestion that I focus on food safety,” Murano said. A fortuitous plan, since she was able to go from being a doctoral student to a professorship at Iowa State University almost immediately after graduation. After a five year stint there, she moved on to Texas A&M University, where she was a professor of animal science and held numerous other positions dealing with food safety.

How does the new job compare with the old? “As a researcher and a scientist at a university, there is only so much you can do that will make a difference. You publish a lot of papers and get grant money and teach the students, all of which has its own reward. But you get to a point where you feel isolated from real life and what is really going to impact people.

“Here--that is the exciting part about this job--you know you are making a difference protecting the public health.”

Murano said she’s come to appreciate two things: “You have to be cognizant of doing the right thing that is supported by science and is the right policy for that reason, but also you must know how to communicate what has happened so the message doesn’t get lost.”

Secondly, Murano has been surprised and pleased with the dedication of career employees. “I see people drop everything they are doing to respond to whatever is the crisis of the moment or to a request--and do it very willingly and stay as late as they need to and work weekends.

“Within the Food Safety and Inspection Service there is a degree of awareness among career employees, by and large, that we have a higher calling, if you will, of protecting the public’s health and people take it very seriously,” she said.

Proudest Moment On The Job: Becoming an official FSIS Compliance Officer, USDA Badge Number 101

Last Book Read: “The 21 Most Powerful Minutes in a Leader’s Day” by John Maxwell

Hobbies: Playing acoustic guitar, astronomy (the telescope was left behind in Texas)

Favorite Food: Spaghetti and meatballs; hot dogs

Last Movie Seen: “Attack of the Clones”

Favorite Weekend Breakfast: Grandma’s special: two eggs over- easy, bacon, toast, and grits

Favorite TV Shows: “Alias” and “Spongebob Squarepants”

Priorities In The Months Ahead: “I have five goals: improving agency management so we can implement our programs effectively and efficiently; utilizing science to make all our policy decisions; protecting the food supply against bioterrorist acts; consumer education on food safety; and last but not least, improving communication and coordination with sister agencies not only within USDA but outside--with the Food and Drug Administration, for example.” •

--Patricia Klintberg