Rob Bertram served as Chief Scientist for Food Security at USAID from 2014-2025, where he led agricultural and food systems research in Feed the Future. The investments developed technologies, practices and policies focused on reducing hunger, extreme poverty and child stunting through inclusive agricultural growth, reduced biotic and abiotic risks, and increased access to affordable, quality diets. Key partners included CGIAR, where he represented the United States, U.S. university-led Innovation Labs and public-private research partnerships, all of which worked directly with partner country research organizations across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

He championed agricultural biotechnology as a tool for addressing especially difficult challenges, with major investments in insect resistance in maize, cowpea, pigeon pea and eggplant, drought tolerance (maize), disease resistance for potato late blight, and both brown streak and mosaic virus in cassava, and most recently, gene-edited sorghum resistant to the parasitic weed Striga. In each instance, collaborative research to develop demand-driven technology was accompanied by science-based regulatory capacity building. Ultimately, the strategy which emphasized local ownership and leadership led to profound shifts toward functioning, evidence-based biosafety systems in several major countries.

After retiring from USAID in July 2022, he now serves as Chief Scientist for the Food Security Leadership Council and is a non-resident fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.