Alexandra Ross

Alex is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Nutrition and is focused on research evaluating policy strategies to improve the availability, pricing, and desirability of food. She holds a master’s degree (MHS) in Social Factors in Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health as well as a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Florida. Under the advisorship of Dr. Shu Wen Ng, Alex uses longitudinal and nutrition epidemiology-based methods to explore economic incentives and disincentives to improve food accessibility and diet quality. She is interested in doing this research in the U.S. and internationally to inform on the translatability of these methods and policy interventions. She has done this with an evaluation of South Africa’s sugar-sweetened beverage tax and the implementation of the SNAP emergency allotments in the US.

Alex’s dissertation project seeks to improve methods to estimate nutrition assistance benefits by using pricing data, purchasing patterns, and diet intake data to reflect affordability and desirability of DASH-compliant foods that are available in lower-income areas in South Africa.

My family’s holiday favorite is… lumpia rolls!

Foods I must have in my home are… cilantro, lemons, garlic, tomatoes, cucumbers, fish sauce, kombucha, mangoes, roasted seaweed, fresh eggs, and Café Bustelo espresso.