mary ann lila is the director of nc state universitys plants for human health institute phhi located at the north carolina research campus in kannapolis north carolina the institute is part of nc states college of agriculture and life sciences in her role with phhi lila is a david h murdock distinguished professor and part of nc states department of food bioprocessing and nutrition sciences she is a researcher and has been called the rock star of blueberry researchlilas research program called the lilalab focuses on identifying and understanding the bioactive components of fruits and vegetables that confer human health benefits when consumed her lab works to identify these compounds and define the protective mechanisms which will ultimately lead to recommendations for how much or how often a food would need to be consumed to confer health benefits in doing so she hopes to develop and discover ways to counteract chronic diseases promote endurance and protect human health she specializes in berries like blueberries black currants and cranberries but also investigates other food cropslila has ongoing research projects in africa asia north america and oceania and is vice president of the global institute for bioexploration gibex in 1999 dr lila won a fulbright senior scholarship to conduct research and outreach in new zealandprevious to nc state lila was a professor at the university of illinois at urbanachampaign she is an author of about 200 published journal articles books and chapters under lilas direction the plants for human health institute has received more than 10 million in gift donations and competitive grantslila has degrees from the university of illinois and the university of wisconsin she has served as the us correspondent for the international association of plant biotechnology president of the society for in vitro biology director of the aces global connect the international arm of the college of agricultural consumer and environmental sciences at the university of illinois at urbanachampaign and associate director of the functional foods for health program