Assistant Research Professor
University of Wisconsin-Madison
I have spent the past 23 years working in academic and applied positions that integrate public health nutrition and agriculture to improve and promote infant and maternal health. I completed both my Master’s and PhD at Cornell University, in programs that promote problem solving through multi-disciplinary and innovative approaches and methods to improve some of the world’s most complex health and nutrition problems. From 2014-2022 I was a co-investigator of a cluster-randomized trial to assess the effect of mycotoxin exposure on linear growth in infants in central Tanzania. Embedded within the design of this trial were multiple methods to better understand both the biological impact of aflatoxin exposure on linear growth as well as the pathways through which a complementary feeding intervention affected AF exposure in infants.
I have also worked in the implementation and evaluation of programs to a) treat severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in young children and b) the quality of antenatal care delivery. Additional research interests are in the improvement of dietary diversity through the life course, assessment and adherence to feeding practices, and the quality of anthropometry performed in LMICs.