Catherine Kwik-Uribe, Ph.D., is global director of applied scientific research and scientific and regulatory affairs, Mars Symbioscience, a division of Mars, Incorporated. In her current role, she is responsible for managing scientific affairs and regulatory compliance for Mars Symbioscience. As part of her career at Mars, Dr. Kwik-Uribe has been actively involved in research into the unique role that the bioactives in foods can have in supporting and optimizing health; in her work, she has been largely focused on the bioactives in cocoa – known as cocoa flavanols. This global research program on cocoa flavanols has taken a multi-disciplinary research approach to understanding the role that these compounds can have in supporting human health, with research spanning from the development of validated analytical methods to human dietary invention trials.  In addition to this work, Dr. Kwik-Uribe lends her expertise to Mars, Inc. on scientific issues related to human nutrition, health, and well-being.  Since joining Mars, Inc. in 2002, she remains actively engaged in research, having co-authored numerous papers and book chapters. Dr. Kwik-Uribe received her Ph.D. in human nutrition from the University of California, Davis and went on as a post‐doctoral fellow at the University of California, Santa Cruz in the Department of Toxicology.