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Our Database of Women Leaders
This database aims to create visibility for Courageous Leadership Practices and those who aim to practice them in nutrition and food systems. It includes early, mid- & senior career professional women working towards a well-nourished world globally. The goal is to use the database as a way of connecting us and to serve as a resource for groups to identify appropriately qualified women working in this space to speak at conferences, as candidates for positions, or to serve on advisory groups/commissions. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER AND BE PART OF THE DATABASE.
First / Given Name | Last / Surname | Position | Affiliation | Career Stage | Areas of Expertise | Geographies of Experience | Link to Personal Bio/Website |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adetokunbo | Olayanju | Lecturer | Birmingham City Univeristy | Early Career | Food and Nutrition | United Kingdom | |
Alice | Ojwang | Lecturer / Researcher | The Technical University of Kenya | Mid Career | Clinical Nutrition. Obesity, preventions, interventions, health and economic consequences | Sub-Saharan Africa | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-ojwang-phd-rdn-rde-24b8272a/ |
Alison | Feeley | Senior Scientific Officer | Office for Health Improvement and Disparities | Mid Career | Obesity and healthy weight, public health nutrition | South Africa, England | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisonfeeley/ |
Amanda | Baker | Public Policy Analyst | Ministry of Social Development and Family - Elige Vivir Sano, Chile | Early Career | Global health, public policy analysis, international relations | United States of America | https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-baker-31776430/ |
Amy | Carrad | Research Assistant | University of Wollongong | Early Career | Food system governance at the local level (local government and civil society) | Australia (New South Wales & Victoria) | https://www.linkedin.com/in/amycarrad/ |
Anna | Peeters | Director, Institute for Health Transformation | Deakin University, Australia | Senior Career | Health systems, obesity prevention, population nutrition policy, food systems transformation, healthy food retail, health equity | High Income Countries, Oceania - Australia | https://www.deakin.edu.au/about-deakin/people/anna-peeters?_ga=2.86283099.2116626548.1630823225-942792336.1615327771 |
Arezoo | Rezazadeh | Associate prof. | Community nutrition department, national nutrition and food technology institute, school of nutrition | Early Career | Nutritional epidemiology, life cycle nutrition , obesity | Iran | |
Benardate | Okiria Apio | Nutrition and Communication Specialist | IFDC Uganda | Early Career | Nutrition Sensitive Agricultural Programming, Social Behaviour Change Communication | Uganda | |
Brenda | Shenute Namugumya | Food & Nutrition Security Advisor | Wageningen University & Research | Early Career | Stakeholder Collaboration, Multi-stakeholder partnerships, Policy analysis, Capacity development, Food system policy research | Sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda, South America, Netherlands | https://www.linkedin.com/in/brenda-shenute-namugumya-9ba6327b/ |
Brenda | Abu | Assistant Professor | Rochester Institute of Technology | Early Career | Maternal and Child Health, Program Development and Impact Assessments, | United Sates of America | https://www.rit.edu/directory/baaihst-brenda-abu |
Camila | Corvalán | Director Center of Food Environment Research & Obesity Prevention (CIAPEC) | Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INTA) U of Chile | Mid Career | Food Environment Policies | - | https://inta.cl/camila-corvalan-aguilar/ |
Carmen | Torres Ledezma | Senior Advisor Food Systems | Netherlands Food Partnership | Senior Career | Food and nutrition security, Food systems, Food technology, Governance | Europe, Latin America, Africa | https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmen-torres-ledezma/ |
Catherine | Pereira-Kotze | PhD Candidate | University of the Western Cape School of Public Health | Mid Career | Protection, promotion and support of optimal infant and young child feeding | South Africa (and Africa and Asia) | |
Chanel, Relf | Relf | Food Systems & Evaluation Officer | City of Greater Bendigo | Early Career | Food & Nutrition Security, Food & Nutrition Policy, Food Environments | Australia | |
Christine | Chege | Scientist | Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT | Mid Career | Food Systems-Food environment, consumer behavior, Nutrition; Agriculture and Nutrition nexus | Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal,) and Asia (Vietnam and Bangladesh) | https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-g-kiria-chege-a884708/ |
Corinna | Hawkes | Director | Centre food Food Policy, City, University of London | Senior Career | Policies for healthy diets; food systems and nutrition; food policy | Global plus United Kingdom | https://www.thebetterfoodjourney.com |
Deborah | Navarro-Rosenblatt | Advisor in epidemiology/ PhD candidate | Ministry of Health/ School of public health, university of chile | Mid Career | Public health nutrition/ nutrition epidemiology/ nutrition policy | United Kingdom, Belgium, Chile | |
Elaine | Borazon | Assistant Professor | National Sun Yat-sen University | Early Career | Management, Food Science | Philippines, Taiwan | http://linkedin.com/in/elaine-borazon-27294830 |
Ellen | Johnson | Research Assistant | University of Sydney | Early Career | Food and nutrition security, food systems, trade policy | Pacific Islands, Indonesia, United Kingdom | |
Emily | Jago | Research Manager | Dalhousie University | Early Career | Food Policy, Food Environments, Food Systems | Canada | https://www.foodpolicylab.ca/team |
Emily | LaRose | Nutrition Consultant | Harvard University | Mid Career | Nutrition & Global Health, Therapeutic Nutrition, Technical Writing, Continuous Learning | Global | https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-larose/ |
Esther | Omosa | Senior Nutrition Specialist | International livestock research Institute | Mid Career | Nutrition Food systems | - | |
Fernanda | Mediano | Postdoctoral Researcher | University of North Carolina | Early Career | Food Marketing, Health Communication, Health Behavior, Children | Chile | https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1474-349X |
Gabriela | Fretes | PhD candidate | Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University | Early Career | Child obesity prevention, school food environments, school food and nutrition education, food policy and systems | Chile, Paraguay, United States | https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriela-fretes/ |
Given | Chipili | Lecturer/ PhD student | Mukuba University, Kitwe, Zambia/ Stellenbosch University Cape town, South Africa | Early Career | Clinical nutritionist | Kitwe, Zambia | https://www.linkedin.com/in/given-chipili-32427058/?midToken=AQEhIexbaSxY8Q&midSig=1_TWY9MbI0DFU1&trk=eml-jobs_jymbii_digest-header-64-profile&trkEmail=eml-jobs_jymbii_digest-header-64-profile-null-3d9scs%7Eksyv188w%7Eq9-null-neptune%2Fprofile%7Evanity%2Eview |
Hala | Ghattas | Associate Research Professor & Director, Center for Research on Population and Health | American University of Beirut | Mid Career | Food and nutrition security, food environments, maternal and child health and nutrition, humanitarian contexts | Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa | https://www.linkedin.com/in/hala-ghattas-b837811/ |
Hazel | Malapit | Senior Research Coordinator | International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) | Mid Career | Gender and women's empowerment | Asia, Africa | https://www.ifpri.org/profile/hazel-malapit |
Helen | Engelstad Kvalem | Head of Studies | Oslo Metropolitan University | Mid Career | Nutrition, food, environmental medicine, public health nutrition, epidemiology | Norway | https://orcid.org/ 0000-0002-8289-9894 |
Hibbah | Araba Osei-kwasi | Post-doctoral Researcher - Public Health Nutrition | University of Sheffield | Early Career | Food environments, Determinants of dietary behaviours, Dietary acculturation and nutrition transition, Nutrition communication | Africa and Europe | https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/geography/people/academic-staff/hibbah-araba-osei-kwasi |
Jacqueline | Kung'u | Regional Advisor Research and Evaluation | Nutrition International | Mid Career | Implementation Research, Program Implementation, Nutrition Policy | Africa | https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacqueline-kung-u-phd-46855920/ |
Jane | Badham | Managing Director | JB Consultancy | Senior Career | Maternal, infant, young child nutrition / Code & Codex | - | |
Jennie | Davis | PhD Candidate | University of California, Davis | Early Career | Nutrition, global health, epidemiology | - | https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennie-davis-rdn/ |
Jillian | Tutuo | Research Fellow | WorldFish | Mid Career | Food systems- food environment/ NCD | - | |
Kathryn | Backholer | Associate Professor | Deakin University | Mid Career | Food policy, health equity | Australia | https://www.deakin.edu.au/about-deakin/people/kathryn-backholer |
Kelly | Donati | Lecturer in Food Studies | William Angliss Institute | Mid Career | food studies pedagogy, gastronomy, fermentation, curriculum development, urban agriculture | Australia | https://www.angliss.edu.au/research/academic-staff/academic-profile-dr-kelly-donati/ |
Kimberley | Neve | Nutritionist and Researcher | Centre for Food Policy, City, University of London | Early Career | Public health nutrition; obesity policy; food environments; qualitative research methods | United Kingdom | https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberley-neve-msc-anutr-31a74156/ |
Lindsay | Jaacks | Senior Lecturer | The University of Edinburgh | Mid Career | Nutrition, Epidemiology, Environmental Health, Agriculture-Nutrition Nexus, Obesity and Diabetes Surveillance, Food Environment Assessments | United States of America, United Kingdom, India, Nepal | https://www.ed.ac.uk/profile/lindsay-jaacks |
Liv Elin | Torheim | Professor | OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University | Senior Career | Nutrition policy, food and nutrition as human rights, dietary assessment, food security assessment | Norway, West Africa, Nepal | https://www.oslomet.no/en/about/employee/livtor/ |
Liza | Barbour | Lecturer & PhD Candidate | Monash University | Early Career | Dietitian - healthy and sustainable diet-related practices | Australia, South Pacific | https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/liza-barbour |
Lydia | Pedun Aisu | Nutritionist and SBC Specialist | Johns Hopkins Center for Communications Programs | Mid Career | Family Nutrition, SBC and Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture | Uganda | |
Madiha | Ahmed | Senior Program Specialist | International Development Research Centre (IDRC) | Senior Career | Economics, Macroeconomic policy, gender, social protection, public health, food systems, healthy diets, non-communicable disease prevention, public policy | Middle East, North Africa, Southern Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South America, West Africa, South Asia, South East Asia | |
Marian | Amaka Odenigbo | Senior Advisor | Nutrition International | Senior Career | Multi-sectoral Nutrition, Program Management | Africa | |
Marieke | Theron | Lecturer | ADSA and NSSA | Mid Career | Food service management in hospitals, Hospital acquired malnutrition and correctional facilities nutrition. Public health. | - | http://www.humannutrition.uct.ac.za/staff/marieketheron |
Maureen | Muketha | Associate Influencing & Advocacy | Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition | Early Career | Food and Nutrition Security, Food systems and Nutrition, Nutrition and policy Advocacy | Kenya | https://www.linkedin.com/in/maureen-muketha-8760a4111/ |
Melissa | Jensen | Postdoc fellow & instructor | Rudd Cener for Food Policy and Health & Uni of Costa Rica | Early Career | Food policy, food marketing, school food environment | - | https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-l-jensen-phd-msph-1b9a3428/ |
Memory | Chipyola Kamoyo | Environmental Officer | Environmental Affairs Department | Mid Career | Environmental assessments | Malawi | |
Michelle | Holdsworth | Research Director/Professor | IRD- French National Research Institute for Development | Senior Career | Food environments, Dietary transitions, Food & Nutrition policy to prevent multiple forms of malnutrition | Africa (Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal); Europe (France, UK) | https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/scharr/people/staff/michelle-holdsworth |
Michelle | Grant | Founder + Director | The Great Full + World Food System Center, ETH Zurich | Mid Career | Food systems, education, leadership coaching | Europe, Africa, Oceania | https://www.thegreatfull.com/ |
Milka | Sokolovic | Director General | European Public Health Alliance | Senior Career | Metabolism, nutrition, public health, leadership, executive management | Europe | https://epha.org/milka-sokolovic/ |
Miria | Twinomugisha | Nutritionist | Nutrition society Uganda | Mid Career | Community Nutrition, clinical nutrition, dietetics, and nutrition policy development | Uganda | |
Miriam, | Shindler | Programme Lead, Children and Young People | Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition | Mid Career | Child and adolescent nutrition | Global | |
Monica | Muti | PhD Candidate | University of Witwatersrand | Mid Career | Public Health Nutrition, Epidemiology, Implementation reasearch | - | |
Mélissa | Mialon | Research Fellow | Trinity College Dublin | Early Career | Public health; nutrition; conflicts of interest; corporations; ethics; governance | Worldwide experience except Asia | https://drmelissamialon.com/ |
Nadia | Flexner | PhD Candidate | University of Toronto | Early Career | Food and Nutrition policy, food environments, front-of-pack labeling, food reformulation, cost-effective analysis | Canada, United States of America, Latin America | https://labbelab.utoronto.ca/profiles/nadia-flexner/ |
Namukolo | Covic | Senior Research Coordinator | International Food Policy Research Institute | Senior Career | Food Systems, Nutrition, Leadership Development | Africa, Zambia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Rwanda | https://www.linkedin.com/in/namukolo-covic-070841189/ |
Neena | Prasad | Director, Food Policy Program | Bloomberg Philanthropies | Mid Career | Policy Advocacy, Program Design, Strategy Development | Global | http://linkedin.com/in/neena-prasad-269023164 |
Ngozi | Nnam | Professor of Community and Public Health Nutrition | Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Nigeria Nsukka | Senior Career | Development and Formulation of infant Complementary food | Global | |
Olutayo | Adeyemi | Consultant/Associate Lecturer (Adjunct Professor) | Independent/University of Ibadan, Nigeria | Mid Career | Nutrition, food systems | Nigeria | |
Paula | Pereda | Associate Professor | Universtiy of Sao Paulo | Mid Career | Economics | - | https://sites.google.com/site/paulapereda/home |
Paula | Johns | Director | ACT Health Promotion | Mid Career | Advocacy, food policy, tobacco control, alcohol control | Brasil | |
Pauline | Kariuki | Program Coordinator | Feed the Children | Early Career | Food and nutrition security, Nutrition Advocacy, Community development, Project Management, Health systems. | - | https://www.linkedin.com/in/pauline-kariuki-2a218531 |
Penny | Farrell | Research Fellow | The University of Sydney | Early Career | Food environment research | Solomon Islands, Samoa, Vietnam, Tanzania, Zambia | https://www.sydney.edu.au/medicine-health/about/our-people/academic-staff/penny.farrell.html |
Purnima | Menon | Senior Research Fellow | International Food Policy Research Institute | Senior Career | Nutrition, health systems, gender, implementation research | India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Haiti | https://www.linkedin.com/in/purnima.menon/ |
Ramya | Ambikapathi | Research Scientist | Purdue University | Early Career | Informal food environment, climate change, measuring diets. | East Africa, India, Peru | https://ramyaambikapathi.com |
Rebecca | Namara | Project Coordinator | Next Gen(D)eration Leadership Collective | Early Career | Nutrition, Food & Nutrition Policy and advocacy | Uganda, US | http://linkedin.com/in/rebecca-namara-14963995 |
Rebecca, | Pradeilles | Senior Research Associate in Global Public Health Nutrition | Loughborough University | Early Career | Nutrition, food systems | Africa, Latin America, South Asia | https://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ssehs/staff/rebecca-pradeilles/ |
Reem | Alsukait | Assistant Professor | King Saud University | Early Career | Food Policy, Nutrition, and Public Health | - | https://blogs.worldbank.org/team/reem-f-alsukait |
Rina | Swart | Professor | University of the Western Cape | Senior Career | Nutrition policy and programming; obesogenic food environments | - | |
Ronel | Sorgenfrei | Assistant-Director: Nutrition | KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health, South Africa | Mid Career | Public Health Nutrition, Clinical Dietetics Practice, Programme development and implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation. | - | https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronel-sorgenfrei-943b0522/ |
Roseline | Remans | Senior Scientist at the Alliance of Biodiversity International and CIAT & Co-founder Glocolearning | CGIAR & Glocolearning | Mid Career | Agrobiodiversity, Nexus of nutrition & environment | Global | |
Rumbidzai | Primrose Mawoza | Program Development Officer | Zimbabwe Nutrition Association | Early Career | Nutrition, Food systems, Program planning and development, program management, grant writing | - | |
Sakile | Kudita | Country Manager | CIAT - HarvestPlus | Mid Career | Crop Science, Food Microbiology, Genetics | Africa | |
Sameeha | Mohd Jamil | Lecturer | UKM,Malaysia | Early Career | Nutrition, Food marketing, Pester power, Qualitative study | Malaysia | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sameeha-Mohd-Jamil-2 |
Sandra | Crispim | Adjunct Professor | Federal University of Paraná | Mid Career | Dietary assessment, nutritional epidemiology, food consumption surveys | Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe | https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandracrispim/ |
Sarah | Mounsey | PhD Candidate/Researcher | University of Sydney | Early Career | Food and nutrition policy/modelling of health and economic impacts of interventions to reduce NCD burden | Pacific, South Asia | |
Shelly | Sundberg | Senior Program Officer, Agriculture & Nutrition | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | Senior Career | Food systems, dietary data, nexus of agricultural programs/policies and nutrition | Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia | https://www.linkedin.com/in/shellysundberg/ |
Shu | Wen Ng | Associate Professor | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Mid Career | Food & nutrition Policy, Chronic disease prevention; policies to address disparities | United States of America, South Africa, Caribbean, China, Mexico, Singapore, | https://sph.unc.edu/adv_profile/shu-wen-ng/ |
Sinead | Boylan | Senior Researcher | University of Sydney | Mid Career | Complex systems, sustainability. | Australia, Southeast Asia, East Africa, UK, Eastern Europe, Russia. | https://www.linkedin.com/in/sinead-boylan/ |
Sirinya | Phulkerd | Assistant Professor | Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University | Early Career | Food and nutrition policies, food environments, eating behaviours, | Thailand | https://ipsr.mahidol.ac.th/ipsrbeta/en/Staff.aspx |
Stacia | Nordin | Sustainable Nutrition | Www.NeverEndingFood.org | Mid Career | Permaculture, Environment, Indigenous Foods | Malawi, Africa | https://www.neverendingfood.org/Sustainable-Nutrition-Manual/ |
Swetha | Manohar | Fellow | Johns Hopkins University | Mid Career | Women and child nutrition, food security, issues of inequity related to food security and nutrition | South Asia, Southeast Asia | |
Tamryn | Frank | Researcher / PhD Candidate | University of the Western Cape | Early Career | Nutrition policy, healthy food environment | - | |
Thais | Diniz Oliveira | Postdoctoral Research Fellow | School of Economics, Business and Accounting, University of São Paulo | Early Career | Climate policy, sustainability, food systems, applied economics | Brazil, Latin America | https://sites.google.com/view/thaisdiniz-oliveira/home |
Violeta | Chacón | PhD Candidate | Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University | Early Career | School food environment & child and adolescent nutrition research | Guatemala, Central America, United States | |
Wendy | Gonzalez | Senior Technical Specialist | The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) | Mid Career | Public health nutrition, food systems, demand creation and behaviour change | Central America, Mexico, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya, Bangladesh, Indonesia | |
Wilma | Waterlander | Assistant Professor | Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam | Mid Career | Food Systems, Food Policy; Food Pricing; Public Health | Europe, New Zealand |
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