Dr. Robert H. O'Bannon, The Hunger Institute 

Dr. Robert H. O'Bannon is the newest addition to the EPPC Team.  He will direct the Hunger Institute (Food Research, Nutrition Science and Policy Initiative) launched by EPPC Global Management to address the critical areas of Hunger, Poverty and Nutrition Policy in the United States and globally. Dr. Robert O'Bannon completed both his PhD and MS at the University of Florida.  The focus of O'Bannon's doctoral work at the University of Florida was nutrition and reproductive physiology. Additionally, O’Bannon has completed 80 quarter-hours of graduate nursing in order to better serve the pre-professional program in biology. He also earned a Master of Arts degree in Church Ministry in 1989. His BS is from East Tennessee State University.  Currently a Professor of Biology at Lee University, he will join the EPPC Team in January 2008. 

Robert O'Bannon is a well-known member of the Lee University family. He came to Lee as one of the first doctoral degree-carrying faculty.  An alumnus of Lee, he customarily teaches Human Anatomy and Physiology, Nutrition, and Science and Scripture. Prior to joining Lee’s fulltime faculty, Dr. O’Bannon served as Superintendent of Church of God World Missions in the Middle East.  He and Nancy resided with their children Randy, Terry, and Bethany in Beirut, Lebanon for three years until the Six-Day War erupted in 1967, forcing them to evacuate the country.  O’Bannon then accepted a full-time teaching position at Lee that year, remaining there ever since, with a one-year hiatus in 1975, when he taught theology at the European Bible Seminary in Rudersburg, Germany. He has served as chair of the Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics on multiple occassions, as well as the former Department of Health Sciences.

"Dr. O’Bannon has been one of the pillars of Lee University for 34 years," said Lee University President Paul Conn. "He was my biology teacher when I was a freshman at Lee, so I’ve known him as a teacher, and as a faculty colleague. He has made a tremendous contribution to Lee."   Lee University honored Dr. O’Bannon with the prestigious Excellence in Teaching Award in 1980 and the Excellence in Scholarship Award in 1989.  He also established the university’s medical technician study program, drawing on his 34-year experience as a part-time medical technician at Cleveland’s Bradley Memorial Hospital. In his spare time, he enjoys gardening, landscaping, writing, and traveling. He attends Westmore Church of God in Cleveland, Tennessee.  He can be contacted by email here.