Professor and Graduate Chair Nutritional Sciences
University of Hawai'i at Manoa
Rachel Novotny is Professor and Chair of the Nutritional Sciences graduate programs in the Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawaii. She holds degrees in Environmental Biology and International Nutrition from Beloit College and Cornell University, has postdoctoral training in maternal child public health from the University of Hawaii and a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist license. Professor Novotny is a Fellow of the American Society of Nutrition and a member of the 2020 United States Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. She serves on the Review Board of the Journal of Nutrition and as an Associate Editor of Nutrition Reviews and has published more than 180 peer reviewed papers. Professor Novotny has worked in Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Professor Novotny examines maternal and child nutrition and health in remote regions of the world, and among culturally diverse populations, studying lifestyle patterns in diverse settings and populations that inform strategies to improve nutrition and health. She obtained more than $50 million dollars as Principal Investigator of federal grants, including the $25 million dollar Children’s Healthy Living Program and $10 million for the Center of Excellence in Food System Resiliency for Children’s Healthy Living which extends across 7 time zones and diverse political affiliations in the Pacific.