MCN

Lauren Au photo

Lauren Au, Ph.D., R.D.N.

  • Associate Professor
  • Associate Nutritionist in AES
Dr. Au's research is at the intersection of innovative dietary assessment, nutrition policy, and obesity prevention for low-income populations. Her work focuses on harnessing artificial intelligence to improve dietary assessment technology and examining how cross-utilization of safety net programs impacts nutrition security and health. She has a wealth of experience with evaluating nutrition policy changes in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children and the National School Lunch Program.
3215 Meyer Hall
Photo of Amy Nichols

Amy R. Nichols, PhD, MS, RDN

  • Assistant Professor | Assistant Nutritionist in AES
Building on her extensive experience in maternal and child nutrition and dietetics, Dr. Nichols conducts interdisciplinary women’s health research in two primary areas at the intersection of dietetics, reproductive epidemiology, and cardiometabolic health. First, she investigates the nutritional, biological, and social aspects of the preconception period through the first 1000 days with a translational emphasis on modifiable determinants that affect the lifecourse. Second, leveraging longitudinal data, Dr. Nichols examines sex as a biological variable and the extent to which reproductive risk factors (e.g., infertility, pregnancy loss, reproductive senescence) are associated with body composition, cardiometabolic health, and the origins of disease among female individuals in midlife.
3243 Meyer Hall
Laurie Nommsen-Rivers

Laurie Nommsen-Rivers, PhD, RD, IBCLC

  • Academic Administrator
  • Adjunct Associate Professor
Dr. Nommsen-Rivers (she/her) is the director of the Maternal and Child Nutrition Master of Advanced Study program and the UC Davis Human Lactation Center. Her program of research aims to strengthen the evidence base for supporting optimal clinical management of lactating parent-infant dyads. Her current work focuses on physiologic factors that influence milk production during lactation.
3150C Meyer Hall
Photo of Jennifer Smilowitz

Jennifer T Smilowitz, Ph.D.

  • Assistant Professor of Cooperative Extension
Dr. Smilowitz has a well-established research career investigating the role of diet on the gut microbiome across the lifespan, with a particular focus on clinical nutrition and lactation during the first 1,000 days—from pregnancy through early childhood. As a Cooperative Extension Specialist with a background in lactation education, she leads collaborative, community-engaged outreach programs that support infant feeding and deliver evidence-based education on lactation and breastfeeding. Through integrated research and extension efforts, her work addresses critical gaps in health, strengthens community capacity, and advances strategies to reduce chronic disease risk.
3150D Meyer Hall | Lab: 3150H Meyer Hall
Andrew Hall

Andrew G. Hall, Ph.D

  • Assistant Adjunct Professor
Dr. Hall's research focuses on the assessment of zinc nutritional status and its relationship to health through the life course. Dr. Hall’s interests include the development of novel biomarkers of zinc-dependent functions, and the application of zinc tracer methodologies towards the determination of dietary zinc absorption and cellular utilization.
Profile picture: Reina_Engle_2025

Reina Engle-Stone, Ph.D.

  • Associate Professor
  • Associate Nutritionist in AES
Dr. Engle-Stone's research is in global public health nutrition, with a focus on micronutrient nutrition among women and young children in low-income settings. Research themes include planning, monitoring, and evaluation of food fortification programs; cost-effectiveness and coherence among micronutrient intervention programs, and nutritional assessment.
3253A Meyer Hall | Lab: 3309 Meyer Hall
Subscribe to MCN Content