Faculty

As an applied microeconomist, Dr. Adams’ research interests are at the intersection of economics and maternal and early childhood nutrition. Her current research is focused on the development of methods and tools to help low- and middle-income countries (1) use secondary data to estimate food and nutrient intake, (2) evaluate the cost and cost-effectiveness of alternative micronutrient interventions, and (3) identify economically optimal micronutrient intervention programs.

Dr. Allen is the Director of the USDA ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center (WHNRC). Her research is focused on the prevalence, causes, consequences and prevention of micronutrient deficiencies including iron, vitamin B-12, zinc, vitamin A and riboflavin.

Dr. Belsky investigates the psychological, behavioral and health consequences of supportive and adverse experiences in infancy, childhood and adolescence, working from an evolutionary, life-history perspective.

Dr. Brown conducts research on the epidemiology, treatment, and prevention of childhood malnutrition in lower-income countries, including evaluation of large-scale intervention programs. Research themes include infant and young child feeding (breast feeding and complementary feeding), relationships between infection and nutrition, and control of specific micronutrient deficiencies, with particular focus on vitamin A, zinc, and iron.

Prior to his current appointment, David served as Director of the California Department of Conservation from 2015 to 2019. Dr. Bunn also served the State as Deputy Director of the Department of Fish and Wildlife and as a natural resources policy consultant for the State Senate and Assembly. Since 2006, Dr. Bunn was a co-leader of the Global Livestock CRSP and USAID Flu School Program -- conducting avian flu workshops in eight African countries for health and agriculture ministry professionals. He also co-developed the Poultry Health for Development Program. David was a project director and researcher at the One Health Institute in the School of Veterinary Medicine, where his work included directing international research projects and training programs in West and East Africa and in Nepal.

Research interests: Dr. Carter's research focuses on small farm development strategies, including asset transfer and financial market deepening programs. His current research projects concern poverty dynamics and productive social safety nets, the impact of violence on aspirations and hope, evaluation of interventions to boost small farm uptake of improved technologies and feature a suite of projects that design, pilot and evaluate index insurance contracts as mechanisms to alleviate chronic poverty and deepen agricultural and rural financial markets.

Dr. Dewey's research area is community and international nutrition, with an emphasis on maternal and child nutrition. Dr. Dewey was the Director of the Program in International & Community Nutrition from 2007 – 2018.

Dr. Engle-Stone's research is in global public health nutrition, with a focus on micronutrient nutrition among women and young children in low-income settings. Research themes include planning, monitoring, and evaluation of food fortification programs; cost-effectiveness and coherence among micronutrient intervention programs, and nutritional assessment.

Dr. Fernald’s research program is focused on two related issues examining the intersection of socio-economic status and health in the context of the developing world: how inequalities in socio-economic status contribute to physical and mental health outcomes in children and adults and how large-scale interventions can address socio-economic disparities in health and nutrition.

Dr. Hess’ research interests involve the design, implementation and evaluation of programs to control micronutrient deficiencies among children and women in low-income countries, and related issues of nutrient bioavailability, nutrient-nutrient interactions and nutritional assessment. The research program is generally carried out in the context of community-based intervention trials, using an efficacy or effectiveness study design.

Dr. Hibel's research interests include mother-child relationships and physiological regulation; family stress/parenting stress and stress physiology; the transaction among family stress, family relationships, and stress physiology; lactation physiology

Dr. Hijman's research interests include ecological modeling, geo-informatics, agricultural geography, biodiversity conservation, and climate change.

Research interests: economic and other determinants of malnutrition in developing countries; food and nutrition strategies of developing countries, including agricultural and livestock policies.

Using stable isotopes and kinetic modeling techniques, Dr. King's research group studies how calcium and zinc utilization is affected by different physiological states, such as pregnancy, lactation, aging, or insufficient or excessive intakes

Dr. Laugero's research interests include nutritional and metabolic regulation of stress system responsiveness and impact on prevention and management of chronic disease across the life span

Dr. Van Loan's research has a dual focus. 1) To determine how soy isoflavones may reduce bone loss in early postmenopausal women not taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and thereby be a natural alternative to HRT. 2) To determine the effect of different diets and eating patterns on body composition, weight and fat loss, and bone metabolism.

Dr. Lönnerdal´s research program is focused on two main areas: infant/pediatric nutrition and trace element metabolism.

As an applied economist, Dr. Lybbert’s research focuses on the microeconomics of development, risk and technology diffusion. This core focus encompasses four primary areas in applied microeconomics: poverty dynamics and vulnerability; rural economic development; risk and uncertainty; and technology adoption and innovation policy.

Design and evaluation of interventions to prevent and treat maternal and child undernutrition in low- and middle income countries; child growth and development; zinc deficiency; environmental enteric dysfunction; nutritional epidemiology

Research interests: human behavioral ecology

Dr. Prado's research interests include the effect of nutrition on brain development in children; the effect of nutrition on cognition, mood, and caregiving in mothers; and the cross-cultural and cross-linguistic adaptation and validation of tests of motor, cognitive, and socio-emotional function in children and adults.

Dr. Stephensen’s research interests focus on the relation between nutritional status and infectious diseases, particularly the host immune response to infections and the impact of infections on nutritional status.

Dr. Stewart’s research focuses on the design and evaluation of nutrition and health interventions for women and young children in low income communities. She examines the effects of these interventions on growth, health, and development throughout the life course. She utilizes primarily community-based randomized controlled trials, longitudinal studies, and meta-analyses to synthesize evidence to inform improvements in programs or policy.

Research interests: tropical deforestation, economic development, effects of policy action on human welfare, poverty-environment links, population-environment links, climate-poverty links, bioeconomic models, environmental economics, and biodiversity policy.

Dr. Waterman is an interdisciplinary research scientist at the intersection of nutrition, agriculture, health, and development. Her work focuses on natural products and foods for improved nutrition, health, and income generation in developing countries. She works with bioactive isothiocyanates and polyphenols from Moringa oleifera for treating chronic inflammation and factors of metabolic syndrome. She leads a California state grant to promote moringa production and consumption for smarter agriculture and heads the UC GHI pilot center on Food Justice and Health Equity.

Dr. Wessells’ research focuses on micronutrient deficiency among young children and women of reproductive age in low-income countries, and the evaluation of therapeutic and preventive interventions designed to improve nutritional status in these populations. Her areas of interest include zinc, the biochemical assessment of nutritional status, environmental enteric dysfunction and the use of stable isotopes to assess mineral absorption.