Patricia Allen is the founder and co-director of the M.S. in Food Systems and Society program. Her commitment to food systems equity grew out of her experiences in farm and food labor work. She earned a B.S. in political economy from the University of California, Berkeley; an M.S. in international agricultural development; and a Ph.D. in sociology from UC Santa Cruz.

Her work focuses on how society and environment are socially constructed, and on gender, race and class in the food system. She also studies discourse and initiatives in social movements and alternative imaginaries of food cultures. Her edited volume Food for the Future: Conditions and Contradictions of Sustainability was one of the first texts to highlight social justice in sustainable food systems. Her book Together at the Table: Sustainability and Sustenance in the American Agrifood System explores social problems and social change in food systems.

Before joining OHSU, Allen established the M.S. program in food systems at Marylhurst University. She also directed the research and education program at the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at UC Santa Cruz, where she studied gender, alternative food initiatives and food movements.

At OHSU, she teaches courses on the foundations of food systems and society, economic justice, and applications of scholarly work in food systems change.