In Memoriam: Professor Elizabeth Prado
Dr. Elizabeth (Beth) Prado established scientific foundations and built bridges across the scientific disciplines of early childhood development and nutrition. Her research advanced our methodological toolkits and our understanding of the lasting impacts of caregiving, home environment, early learning experiences and nutrition interventions on early childhood development.
Beth was born in Baltimore, Maryland on March 6, 1979, and died on October 31, 2023 in Davis, California. She attended Georgetown University, where she graduated Summa Cum Lauda in 2003, earning her Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, with minors in French and Computer Science. In 2003, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue research in cognition and linguistics in Indonesia. She pursued her Master’s Degree while working with Dr. Michael Ullman at Georgetown University, in Indonesia with Dr. Anuraj Shankar and colleagues at the Summit Institute for Development, and with Dr. Husni Muadz of the University of Mataram. In 2005, Beth was awarded a US National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and UK Overseas Research Studentship Award and she received her PhD in Psychology from the University of Lancaster under the guidance of Dr. Katy Alcock in 2009. During these years she worked on the Supplementation with Multiple Micronutrients Intervention Trial (SUMMIT) and evaluated the impact of maternal multiple micronutrient supplementation on child development.
In 2010, Beth began a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Nutrition and Child Development completed under the mentorship of Dr. Kathryn Dewey at UC Davis. She led the child development assessments for the four randomized controlled trials of the International Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements (iLiNS) Project, and worked closely with collaborators and the data collection teams in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Malawi. She was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Nutrition at UC Davis in 2017, subsequently promoted to Associate Professor in 2021.
Beth had a passion for research, and her overarching aim was to translate basic scientific knowledge on nutrition and development into practical interventions that benefited mothers and children. She was particularly interested in applying findings on the effects of nutrition and environmental factors on brain development to inform policies and programs. Beth’s contributions have transformed discussions on growth and development, leading to more holistic approaches that incorporate biological and psychological factors alongside nutritional strategies.
Selected Publications
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1VqVsSrWtcv5j/bibliography/public/