Nutrition Policy Institute and affiliated researchers were featured in a Morning Ag Clips article on Oct. 20, 222, “Nutrition Policy Institute work underpins historic White House conference”. The article introduced the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, which took place on Sept. 28, the first time since it was originally hosted 50 years ago. During the conference, the Biden administration announced a national strategy “to end hunger in America and increase healthy eating and physical activity by 2030 so fewer Americans experience diet-related diseases.” NPI director and Cooperative Extension specialist Lorrene Ritchie was quoted in the article: “Science is the work of many – and no one study answers all the questions – but we have a tremendous body of work that has contributed to this conference.” The article also highlighted NPI's recommendations to conference organizers on encouraging drinking water over sugar sweetened beverages, quoting NPI's senior policy advisor Christina Hecht, “NPI's recommendations were built on lots of work by many water researchers and advocates over the years.” The article also quoted NPI affiliated research Suzanna Martinez at the University of California, San Francisco about her collaborative work with NPI on alleviating food insecurity for college students. “The work that we're doing here in California tends to set the stage for what happens in other states.”
- Author: Katherine Lanca
- Editor: Miranda Westfall
- Editor: Danielle L. Lee
- Editor: Gail Woodward-Lopez
Miranda Westfall joined the Nutrition Policy Institute on October 3, 2022 as the Director of the CalFresh Healthy Living Evaluation Unit. She will be mentored by Gail Woodward-Lopez, Principal Investigator of the unit. As a registered dietitian and a public health nutrition researcher, Miranda brings a wealth of experience from her academic career at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, where her training and research focused on public health program planning and evaluation to support nutrition and health outcomes across the life course. She also led evaluation of training and workforce support activities for California's COVID-19 response. At the Nutrition Policy Institute, Miranda will continue to support healthy eating and active living through monitoring and assessing the impact of the CalFresh Healthy Living program in partnership with the California Department of Public Health and local health departments. CalFresh Healthy Living is the largest nutrition education and obesity prevention program in California with more than one-third of California residents eligible for the program.
- Author: Katherine Lanca
- Editor: Danielle L. Lee
- Editor: Lorrene Ritchie
The American Public Health Association holds an Annual Meeting & Expo for public health professionals to engage, collaborate, and network with the overarching goal of advancing the nation's health. This year's meeting in Boston, November 6-9, 2022 will celebrate 150 Years of Creating the Healthiest Nation: Leading the Path Toward Equity. Nutrition Policy Institute researchers will share findings that bring nutrition equity to the forefront of federal programs, school nutrition, community health, health literacy, and the food retail environment. A list of the poster presentations and live oral presentations is found below.
Retail food environment:
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What can we learn from California's investment in the Healthy Stores Refrigeration Grant Program?
Authors: Carolyn Chelius, Caroline Long, Taylor Baisey, Wendi Gosliner
Wednesday, November 9, 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.; oral presentation
School meals:
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Providing School Meals to All Students Free of Cost: Challenges and Benefits Reported by School District Foodservice Professionals to Inform California's Policy Implementation
Authors: Wendi Gosliner, Monica Zuercher, Juliana Cohen, Christina Hecht, Michele Polacsek, Kenneth Hecht, Lindsey Turner, Marlene Schwartz, Anisha Patel, Lorrene Ritchie
Monday, November 7, 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.; oral presentation
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Impact of a teacher intervention to encourage students to eat school lunch
Authors: Hannah Thompson, Stephanie Machado, Kristine Madsen, Renata Cauchon-Robles, Marisa Neelon, Lorrene Ritchie
Monday, November 7, 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.; oral presentation
SNAP-Ed:
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Evaluation identifies the most promising combinations of school-based Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) interventions for improving student fitness
Authors: Sridharshi Hewawitharana, Gail Woodward-Lopez, Punam Ohri-Vachaspati, Francesco Acciai, Hannah R. Thompson, Wendi Gosliner
Monday, November 7, 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.; oral presentation -
Reductions in public health obesity prevention interventions due to COVID-19 disproportionately affect neighborhoods with pre-existing health inequities
Authors: Erin E Esaryk, Carolyn D Rider, Gail Woodward-Lopez
Tuesday, November 8, Session 8; 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.; poster presentation -
A novel approach to measuring potential for health equity impact in community health interventions
Authors: Janice Kao, Gail Woodward-Lopez, Christina Becker, Carolyn Rider, Erin Esaryk, Evan Talmage
Tuesday, November 8, Session 7; 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.; poster presentation
WIC:
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Assessing changes associated with expanding the WIC Cash-Value Benefit for the purchase of fruits and vegetables among children age 1 to 5 years: a longitudinal study
Authors: Marisa Tsai, Christopher Anderson, Catherine Martinez, Martha Meza, Lauren Au, Lorrene Ritchie, Shannon Whaley
Tuesday, November 8, 2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.; oral presentation
Other:
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Impact of an arts-based public health literacy program delivered online to high school students during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Hannah Thompson, Jackie Mendelson, Maya Zamek, Gabriel Cortez, Dean Schillinger
Wednesday, November 9, 12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.; oral presentation
Nutrition Policy Institute researchers Christina Hecht and Janice Kao will take part in the 2022 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior conference on the intersection of nutrition education and behavior and the digital world. Hecht is a co-author of the abstract “Associations of Perceptions of Water Safety and Tap Water Taste with Beverage Intake Among U.S. Adults,” which Sohyun Park, the lead investigator, will present as a poster. Kao will present a poster from the NPI CalFresh Healthy Living evaluation unit research team—Carolyn Rider, Christina Becker, Evan Talmage, Kaela Plank, Amanda Linares, and Kao—in person from 12:15 to 2:00 EDT on July 31. The poster is titled, “Where Do We Go from Here? California Local Health Departments Navigate School-based SNAP-Ed During COVID-19.” The conference will be held in person, in Atlanta, Georgia, and virtually, from July 29 to July 31, 2022.
The Nutrition Policy Institute welcomed Richard Pulvera to the team on July 6, 2022. Richard is an NPI research data analyst who primarily works on evaluation and reporting projects for CalFresh Healthy Living in partnership with the California Department of Public Health. Richard completed his MPH in Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health in 2022. He also earned his Bachelor's degrees in Public Health and Molecular & Cell Biology at UC Berkeley in 2019. His previous research experiences broadly focused on the impact of safety net and economic support programs, youth nutrition programs, and policies for chronic disease prevention. Richard also has previous experience in higher education outreach and retention, focusing on students from marginalized backgrounds.