A realization during her first nutrition course changed the direction of Regina Brown’s career. After beginning college on a pre-med track, she quickly saw that nutrition could offer a powerful way to influence health not only for individuals, but across entire populations. That insight set her on a path through food and nutrition policy research […]
A firsthand encounter with food insecurity in rural Bangladesh sparked Abira Nowar’s interest in nutrition and shaped her commitment to improving health among disadvantaged communities. Just before beginning her undergraduate studies, she volunteered at a community workshop in a rural area of Bangladesh, where she encountered families facing food insecurity and witnessed the ways limited […]
For Saiful Islam, nutrition has always been about more than what ends up on an individual’s plate. Growing up in Bangladesh and later building a career in public health nutrition, he became increasingly interested in how food environments, economic conditions, climate, and policy shape what food individuals have access to and, ultimately, their health. This […]
A passion for prevention and a desire to create healthier food systems have guided Tessa Lasswell’s journey from registered dietitian to USDA nutritionist and now doctoral student. Beginning this fall, Tessa joins the Department of Health Behavior at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health and the Global Food Research Program (GFRP), where she […]
A new study led by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Global Food Research Program (GFRP) found that Peru’s mandatory front-of-package warning label policy was associated with meaningful improvements in the nutritional quality of the country’s packaged food supply. The findings add to growing evidence that mandatory nutrition labeling policies can encourage […]
The American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) has published a special issue focused on ultra-processed foods (UPFs), bringing together leading researchers from across disciplines to examine their impacts on health, the food system, and public policy. The collection features original research, editorials, and policy analyses that reflect growing scientific and public interest in understanding the […]
A new Series published in The Lancet, coauthored by Barry Popkin, W.R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of nutrition at the UNC Gillings Global School of Public Health and founder of the Global Food Research Program at UNC-Chapel Hill, warns that the rapid rise in ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption is undermining diet quality and health globally. The three-paper Series brings together 43 international experts to examine the evidence and […]
Passion for promoting a healthier and more equitable food environment and commitment to improve public health have guided Cristina Lee from her early days studying pharmaceutical sciences in Brazil to her new role as a first-year doctoral student in the Department of Nutrition at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. She joins the […]
A new study from researchers at the Global Food Research Program at UNC-Chapel Hill and The George Institute for Global Health highlights how deeply ultra-processed foods (UPFs) dominate grocery purchases in the United States and how these patterns vary by race, income, and education level. Using nationally representative data from the NielsenIQ Homescan Consumer Panel, […]
A new study published in Public Health Nutrition examining the snack food environment in South African supermarkets reveals that ultra-processed, high-sugar, and high-sodium snacks are overwhelmingly available and aggressively marketed to consumers. Conducted by researchers at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, this […]
Leaving behind her home country of Colombia, Mafe Parra embarks on a new academic endeavor to shape the future of public health as a doctoral student in the Department of Health Behavior at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. She joins the Global Food Research Program (GFRP) this fall under the advisership of […]
Carmen Prestemon is eager to impact public health by advancing nutrition policy as a doctoral student in the Nutrition Department at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. Carmen first joined the Global Food Research Program (GFRP) as an undergraduate research assistant, launching her path into nutrition policy research, and will now be continuing […]
Passion to empower communities by improving dietary health is what fuels Carolyn Chelius, a first-year doctoral student in the Department of Health Behavior at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. She recently joined the Global Food Research Program (GFRP) under the advisership of GFRP faculty Shu Wen Ng and Marissa Hall. Carolyn will […]
The close of summer also marks the end of GFRP’s third year of the Fellowship for Exploring Research in Nutrition (FERN), a 9-week research internship for undergraduate students interested in food policy research. Over the course of the summer, the fellows built foundational research skills, attended professional development workshops, participated in GFRP team activities, assisted […]