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Program in International and Community Nutrition |
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Program in International and Community Nutrition |
Ph.D
recipients:
Seth Adu-Afarwuah
(2006)
Major Professor: Kathryn G. Dewey
Graduate Group: Nutritional Biology
Dissertation title: “Efficacy and acceptability of three types of
multiple micronutrient supplements for home fortification of
complementary foods for infants in Ghana” (supported by the Fogarty
International Center and the National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development, The Nestle Foundation and USAID).
Dr. Adu-Afarwuah received his B.S. in Nutrition and Food Science with
Biochemistry at the University of Ghana, Legon and his MPhil in
International Health and Nutrition from the University of Bergen,
Norway. He is currently a Nutrition Consultant with
UNICEF-Ghana, supporting the UNICEF Nutrition Officers in the
planning and implementation of nutrition intervention activities
in Ghana.
His research interests
include the development and evaluation of low
cost interventions to improve nutrition and health of infants and
children in low income populations.
Shaikh
Meshbahuddin Ahmad (2007)
Major Professor: Charles B. Stephensen
Graduate Group: Nutritional Biology
Dissertation title: "Immune function in men with marginal and adequate
vitamin A
stores" (supported by Fogarty International Center and the National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the Agricultural
Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture).
Dr. Ahmad received his B.S. and M.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh He is currently an Assistant Scientist in the Immunology laboratory at ICDDR,B (Dhaka, Bangladesh), working on the relationship between whole body vitamin A store and immune responses.
His research interests
include the relationships between
micronutrient status and vaccine specific immune response.
Miriam Anaya-Loyola
(2007)
Dissertation title:
"Vitamin B12 deficiency: prevalence and
causes in Mexico" (supported by CONACYT, UC MEXUS, USDA, Wyeth).
Major Professor: Lindsay
H. Allen
Graduate Group in Nutrition
Dissertation title: "Evaluation of iron amino acid chelates as iron fortificants in maize." (Supported by Albion Laboratories.)
Dr. Benjamin is
currently a Research Associate Professor in
the Department of Food and
Nutritional Sciences at Tuskegee
University. She is currently working on diet, nutrition and
cancer prevention issues in African Americans and food product
development with emphasis on sensory issues. Her research
interests are international nutrition, food product development, and
nutrition and cancer prevention issues among African Americans.
Major Professor: Kenneth
H. Brown
Graduate Group in Nutrition
Dissertation title: "Evaluation of selected methods to assess and enhance complementary feeding of young children in low-income countries." (Supported by UNICEF, USAID/UDLP, USAID/PSTC.)
Dr. Bennett received her
B.S. from Central Washington University in
Food Science, and her M.S. from the same institution in Nutrition. She
is also a registered dietitician. She is currently a full time
non-tenure track instructor in the Department of Health, Human
Performance and Nutrition at Central
Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. She is
also the Director of the Program in Dietetics and coordinates the Study
Abroad Program in Nutrition located in Morelia, Mexico.
Major Professor: Kenneth
H. Brown
Graduate Group in Nutrition
Dissertation title: "Evaluation of Novel Assessment Tools and
Interventions to
Improve Micronutrient Nutrition" (Supported by UC Davis and INCAP.)
Dr. Boy received his B.A.
in English Literature from Baylor
University, his M.D. from the University of San Carlos in Guatemala,
and his M.S in nutrition from UC Davis. He currently
holds the title of Chief Scientific Adviser at the Micronutrient Initiative in
Ontario, Canada, and is responsible for providing technical guidance
for institutional strategies and programs; maintaining technical staff
updated in key scientific topics related to micronutrient deficiency
control and prevention. He is in charge of home fortification of
complementary foods and zinc supplementation interventions development,
particularly in Latin American countries with high burden of disease
and is a liaison with expert technical groups in vitamins and minerals
nutrition
Major Professor: Lindsay
H. Allen
Graduate Group in Nutrition
Major Professor: Lindsay
H. Allen
Graduate Group in Nutrition
Dissertation title: "Vitamin B-12 deficiency and malabsorption in Guatemala and Mexico." (Supported by USAID/UDLP and the Thrasher Research Fund.)
Dr. Casterline received
her B.A. from Boston University in Biology,
and her M.S. from the University of Connecticut in Nutritional
Sciences. She is currently an epidemiologist in the Injury
Prevention Program at the Washington
State Department of Health in Olympia, WA.
Major Professor: Kathryn
G. Dewey
Graduate Group in Nutrition
Dissertation title: "Optimal age of introduction of complementary foods to exclusively breast fed Honduran infants." (Supported by the Thrasher Research Fund, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and Georgetown University.)
Honors: Society for International Nutrition Young Investigator Award, 1994.
Dr. Cohen received her B.A. in Bilingual Education from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts and an M.Ed. in Special Education from Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts. Subsequently, she received an M.S. in Nutrition (minor in Farming Systems) from the University of Florida, Gainesville.
Dr. Cohen is currently a researcher with the UC Davis Program in International and Community Nutrition. Her recent projects include a study of anemia in infancy (carried out in Honduras in 1997) and managing the collection of anthropometric data to be used in developing growth charts based on breastfed infants (coordinated by the World Health Organization).Dissertation title:
"Strategies to optimize maternal and infant
nutrition."
Dr. Deshpande received her B.S. from San Diego State University in Nutrition. Having completed a post-doctoral fellowship with the Epidemic Intelligence Service, she is currently working as an epidemiologist at the San Mateo County Health Department.
Her research interests are
HIV/AIDS, maternal and child nutrition.
Major Professor: Lindsay
H. Allen
Graduate Group in Nutrition
Dissertation title: "Isotope and community trials of the efficacy of a local food source of ascorbic acid for improving iron absorption and status in rural Mexico." (Supported by CONACYT, Mexico; USAID/OMNI.)
Dr. Garcia received her
B.S. in Food Chemistry from the Universidad
Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City and her M.S. in Nutrition from
the University of California, Davis. She is a Professor in the
Department of Human Nutrition, Faculty of Natural Sciences, at the Universidad Autonoma de Querataro,
Querataro, Mexico.
Joanne Graham
(2004)
Major Professor: Lindsay
H. Allen
Graduate Group in Nutrition
Dissertation title:
"Benefits of riboflavin plus iron
supplementation for pregnant Nepali women." (Supported by the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation and Floyd & Mary Schwall
Dissertation Fellowship.)
Dr. Graham received her
B.S. from the University of California,
Davis
in Dietetics. She is also a Registered Dietitian (internship at Olive View UCLA Medical Center
in Sylmar, CA 1998). She is currently a Lecturer at Sacramento State University teaching
undergraduate
nutrition courses, specifically, Metabolism and Lifespan
Nutrition. Her interests include pregnancy outcomes, maternal and
infant nutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies in developing
countries.
Major Professor:
Monique Borgerhoff Mulder
Graduate Group in Anthropology
Dissertation title: "The Biosocial Correlates of Children's Growth in Two Tanzanian Ethnic Groups." (Supported by NSF, the Gifford Center for Population Issues, and UC Davis.)
Dr. Hadley received his
B.S. in Anthropology from the University of
Utah and his M.A. in Anthropology from the University of California,
Davis. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department
of Anthropology at Emory University. He also holds
the appointment as the Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar
in the Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health at the
University of Michigan. Dr. Hadley is currently involved in
studies concerning public health nutrition among Ethiopian adolescents,
refugees living the in USA, and studies of the biosocial impact of
living in seasonal subsistence environments. His current research
interests include nutritional anthropology, mixed methods, social
production of health, food insecurity, child feeding, refugees, and
East Africa.
Major Professor: Kenneth
H. Brown
Graduate Group in Nutrition
Dissertation title: "Evaluation of the deuterated retinol dilution technique to assess vitamin A status of Bangladeshi adults." (Supported by USAID.)
Dr. Haskell received her
B.S. in Nutrition at the University of
Massachusetts and her M.P.H. at the University of North Carolina
(Chapel Hill).
She is currently an Associate Research Nutritionist at the University
of California, Davis, working on bioavailability of vitamin A and
carotenoids, assessment of vitamin A status, and food-based
interventions for improving maternal and infant vitamin A status.
Mohammad Bakhtiar
Hossain (2006)
Major Professor: Bo
Lonnerdal
Graduate Group: Nutritional Biology
Dissertation title: "Effects of Maternal Iron and Zinc Deficiency and
Supplementation on Neonatal Iron and Zinc Status, Iron Uptake, and
Intestinal Iron and Zinc Transporter Expression in a Rat Model"
(supported by the Fogarty International Center and the National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development)
Dr. Hossain received both a B.S. and M.S. in Biochemistry from Dhaka
University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. He is an Assistant Scientist at
the Centre for Health and Population
Research (ICDDR,B) in Dhaka,
Bangladesh. Dr. Hossain’s studies will involve the effect of zinc
supplementation on intestinal zinc transporter expression.
His research interest is micronutrient supplementation.
Md. Munirul Islam
(2007)
Major Professor: Kenneth H. Brown
Graduate Group in Nutrition
Dissertation title:
"Effects of energy density and feeding
frequency of complementary foods on food and breast milk consumption,
total energy intake, and time expended during individual meals by
healthy, breastfed Bangladeshi children" (supported by the Government
of Bangladesh through IHP-HNPRP and by the Fogarty International Center
and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development).
Dr. Islam received his
MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of
Surgery) from Dhaka Medical College, University of Dhaka,
Bangladesh. He is currently an Assistant Scientist in the
Clinical Sciences Division of the Centre
for Health and Population
Research (ICDDR,B) in Dhaka,
Bangladesh. Dr. Islam is researching the development of
practical, complementary feeding recommendations for healthy breastfed
children. His research interests include infant and young child
feeding (complementary feeding and breast feeding); management and
prevention of childhood malnutrition in low-income countries;
micronutrients and infectious disease.
Major Professor: Kathryn
G. Dewey
Graduate Group in Nutrition
Dissertation title:
"Assessment of appropriate and feasible
strategies to improve infant complementary feeding practices in Ghana
and Bangladesh." (Supported by Nestlé Foundation; World
Bank, ICDDR, B).
Dr. Kimmons received his
B.S. in Food Science and Technology at the
University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Dr. Kimmons is a Nutrition
Epidemiologist at the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
where he is the lead scientist for the National Fruit and Vegetable
Program (CDC’s center for disease control and prevention’s division of
nutrition and physical activity). His research interests include
macronutrient and micronutrient intake, micronutrient status, fruit and
vegetable intake and chronic disease, obesity, national dietary
surveillance, diabetes, functional foods and dietary supplements.
Major Professor: Kathryn
G. Dewey
Graduate Group in Nutrition
Dissertation title: "A randomized community-based trial of the effects of improved, centrally processed complementary foods on growth and micronutrient status of Ghanaian infants at 6-12 mo." (Supported by the Nestlé Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.)
Dr. Lartey attended UCD as a Fulbright student from Ghana, West Africa. Prior to studying here, she received her B.S. from the University of Ottawa (Canada) in Biochemistry - Nutrition, and after serving a dietetic internship at Kingston General Hospital in Kingston, Canada, she received her M.S. from the University of Guelph (Canada) in Nutritional Sciences.
Dr Lartey is currently an Associate Professor and the Head of the Department of Nutrition and Food Science at the University of Ghana in Accra. She is also a Council Member for the International Union of Nutritional Sciences.
Major Professor: Lindsay
H. Allen
Graduate Group in Nutrition
Major Professor: Kenneth
H. Brown
Graduate Group in Nutrition
Dissertation title: "Effects of phytate and calcium levels on iron and zinc absorption from genetically modified maize and a novel food supplement." (Supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and the International Atomic Energy Agency.)
Dr. Mendoza received her
bachelor's degree from Universidad del
Valle in
Cali, Colombia, and her master's degree from the Institute of Nutrition
for
Central America and Panama (INCAP). She is currently a Research
Associate
at the Western Human Nutrition
Research
Center (USDA) working in the area of micronutrient bioavailability.
Currently
she is the coordinator of a research project that evaluates the effect
of
iron supplementation on zinc metabolism during pregnancy and lactation.
Major Professor: Kenneth
H. Brown
Graduate Group in Nutrition
Major Professor: Lindsay
H. Allen
Graduate Group in Nutrition
Dissertation title: "Vitamin B12 status of Guatemalan school children: indicators and predictors of deficiency." (Supported by the Thrasher Research Foundation.)
Dr. Rogers received her B.S. from the University of Arizona in Nutrition and Dietetics, and her M.S. from the University of Florida in Human Nutrition. She is also a Registered Dietitian (internship at St. Luke's Hospital/Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL '94). Her master's thesis work involved studying the bioavailability of folic acid in 13C5-folic acid fortified cereal products. This work was completed under Dr. Jesse Gregory, III.
Dr. Rogers is currently working at the World Health Organization as a Technical Officer in the Micronutrient Unit of the Department of Nutrition for Health and Development. She is updating the vitamin A portion of the Micronutrient Deficiency Information System (MIS) and will then use this information to update WHO’s global estimates of vitamin A deficiency.
Major Professor: Monique
Borgerhoff-Mulder
Graduate Group in Ecology
Dissertation title: "The socio-ecology of young child growth among the Datoga pastoralists of Northern Tanzania." (Supported by Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the Leverhulme Trust, the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain, and the LSB Leakey Foundation.)
Dr. Sellen received a B.A.
and an M.A. in Zoology and Biological
Anthropology from the University of Oxford in 1987, an M.A. in
Anthropology from the University of Michigan in 1989, and completed
post-doctoral research in anthropological demography at University
College London in 1997. He is currently Canada Research Chair in
Human Ecology and Public Health Nutrition, and an Associate Professor
of Anthropology and Public Health Sciences at The University of
Toronto.
Amna Rehana
Siddiqui (2006)
Major Professor: Dr. Ellen B. Gold
Graduate Group: Epidemiology
Dissertation title: “Prenatal Exposure to Wood Fuel and Adverse
Infant Birth Outcomes” (supported by the National Institutes of Health).
Dr. Siddiqui received her M.B.B.S. in Medicine and Surgery from the
University of Karachi Pakistan and her M.S.P.H. in Infectious Diseases
Epidemiology from the University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL. She
is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community
Health Sciences, Aga Khan University,
Karachi, Pakistan. She is teaching and directing courses in
epidemiology and nutritional epidemiology for M.B.B.S., M.S.
epidemiology and biostatistics, regional short courses, hospital
epidemiology, and field-based research work related to indoor air
pollution. Her research interests are environmental and
nutritional epidemiology.
Major Professor: Lindsay
H. Allen
Graduate Group in Nutrition
Dissertation title:
"Micronutrient deficiencies in Kenyan
school children: Impact of food-based interventions, and
associations with malaria and antibody titers." (Supported by
USAID Global Livestock CRSP.)
Dr. Siekmann is employed
as a Technical Officer in the Department of
Nutrition for Health and Development at the
World Health Organization, working
on the Global Database on BMI.
Major Professor: Kathryn
G. Dewey
Graduate Group in Nutrition
Dissertation title: "Predictors of postpartum body composition changes and physical activity level in women from three different ethnic groups: Asian, Hispanic and non-Hispanic White." (Supported by NIH.)
Dr. Tohill received her
B.A. from Texas A&M in Speech
Communication and Health, and her M.S.P.H. from the University of
Alabama, Birmingham. As part of her master's degree, she spent over 2
years with the Peace Corps in Guatemala, working in health and
nutrition education. She is currently working in the
Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity at the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia as a
Nutritional Epidemiologist. Her main areas of research include
the causes of the obesity epidemic and using that evidence-based
research to reverse the current epidemic and issues related to
nutrition and breastfeeding among HIV infected women and their
children.
Major Professor: Ernesto
Pollitt
Graduate Group in Nutrition
Dissertation title: "Effect of intestinal helminths on the nutritional status and cognitive performance of Guatemalan schoolchildren." (Supported by the USAID University Development and Linkage Program)
Dr. Watkins graduated from
Yale University in 1978 with a B.A. in
Chinese studies, taught agriculture in Ghana for the Peace Corps
1978-80, and then English in China for the Yale-China Association
1981-84. He received a M.S. in microbiology from North Dakota State
University in 1989. He is currently teaching at St.
Timothy's School in Stevenson, Maryland.
Major Professor: Kenneth
H. Brown
Graduate Group in Nutrition
Major Professor: Kathryn
G. Dewey
Graduate Group in Nutritional Biology
Stuart Bresnick
Major Professor: Kathryn G. Dewey
Before receiving his M.S. in Nutrition from UC Davis, Mr. Bresnick
received a Bachelor of Engineering from Cornell University, a Master of
Science in Materials Science from Northwestern University, and a
Master of Business Administration from Iona
College.
Gina Ermis
Major Professor: Kathryn G. Dewey
Olga Garcia
Major Professor: Lindsay H. Allen
Keiko Goto
Major Professor: Kenneth H. Brown
Thesis title: "Epidemiology of Impaired Intestinal Function of
Guatemalan infants and Its Risks Factors, as Assessed by Permeability
to Test Sugars". (Supported by the USAID University Development
and Linkage Program.)
Fouad Hassaan
Major Professor: Kenneth H. Brown
Barbara MkNelly
Major Professor: Louis E. Grivetti
Natalia León
Major Professor: Ernesto Pollitt
William Wheeler
Major Professor: Kenneth H. Brown
Thesis title: "Solubility and bioavailability of metallic iron placed
in drinking water". (Supported by UNICEF.)
Alhassan Abdullah Manu (1960-1995)
A native of Ghana, Mr. Manu came to Davis in 1992 to enroll in the Program. He had previously received his B.Sc. from the University of Ghana in Nutrition and Food Science, and his M.S. from the University of Oslo, Norway, in Nutrition. His goal was to be a university instructor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Science at the University of Ghana, and to continue research on issues related to malnutrition and household food security in Ghana.
After completing his coursework and passing his orals, he returned to Ghana in 1994 to carry out his dissertation research on improved complementary foods in relation to the growth and morbidity of Ghanaian infants.
Unfortunately, he fell ill while in Ghana, and passed away in November, 1995. His untimely death was a great loss not only to his family and friends, who loved him, but also to the international nutrition research community, which lost a man of great intelligence and compassion.
Alhassan: May peace be
upon you -- may God's blessings be upon you.
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