Robyn O’Brien, food industry analyst and author, will be the first speaker of of the Dr. Max Pickerill Lecture Series at Colby Community College for this academic year.

O’Brien is the founder of the AllergyKids Foundation. The mission of the organization is to restore the health of the one in three American children who have allergies, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or asthma.

Her talk, “You Eat, Right?” will begin at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 5, in the Northwest Kansas Cultural Arts Center located on the CCC campus.

O’Brien earned a Fulbright grant and completed her MBA on a full scholarship. She served as a food industry analyst prior to the birth of her four children.

Her book, The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food is Making Us Sick and What We Can Do About It, will be reviewed at the Pioneer Memorial Library in Colby on Thursday, Sept. 30, at 7 p.m. Thomas County Emergency Management Director Susan McMahan will lead the discussion about the book.

As highlighted in her book, using resources and skills that she developed as an equity analyst on a team that managed billions in assets, Robyn diagnoses the recent deregulation of the American food system that allowed chemicals and additives into the American food supply in order to enhance profitability for the food industry–chemicals that have either been banned or labeled from foods around the world.

O’Brien has been named by SHAPE Magazine as one of 2009’s “Women to Shape the World.” She was called “food’s Erin Brockovich” by the New York Times; an “inspiring woman to follow on Twitter” by Forbes; and a “visionary” by the Discovery Channel.

Her book published by Random House in May 2009 highlights the role that the financial structure of our food system has had on our food supply and the health of families.

A contributing editor to SHAPE Magazine, she also serves on the board of the Environmental Working Group and writes a column about women and food for Martha Stewart’s Whole Living.

There is no charge to attend. The Max Pickerill Lecture Series is funded annually by anonymous donors. For more information contact Dr. Linda Davis-Stephens at (785) 460-5528.