blueberries, cell structure, dna, child eating apple

Mission, Vision, and Key Areas of Expertise

Mission

The mission of the Nutrition department is to advance nutritional biology and translation to improving human health through research, education and outreach.  

We study variability of response, mechanisms and effects of foods and food components on health and disease risk; implement and evaluate nutrition interventions, including food-based interventions and nutrition education, and their impact on individuals, society and policy; and train future nutrition scientists and health professionals.

Vision

Our vision is to have high societal impact on solving food, nutrition, and health challenges using innovative research and translational approaches and training future nutrition leaders.

Signature areas

  1. Developmental nutrition with emphasis on maternal health, pregnancy outcomes, infant and child development and early determinants of adult disease
  2. Systems biology and precision nutrition to predict nutritional impacts on health, assess nutritional status and evaluate response to nutrition and lifestyle interventions
  3. Community and global outreach through development and evaluation of multidimensional nutrition interventions and policies

Programmatic Expertise

  • Maternal, infant and child nutrition
  • Cellular and integrative metabolism
  • Nutri-omics approaches and big data in nutrition
  • Nutrition of diverse populations in international and domestic settings
  • Nutrition education in schools, communities and food assistance programs
  • Clinical nutrition and biomarkers of nutritional effects on health and disease
  • Life cycle nutrition, from mechanisms and models of development through chronic disease