The School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley was recently granted candidacy for accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics for their new Berkeley Public Health Dietetic Internship program. The program aims to create a new public health dietetic internship model that will prepare students to tackle adaptive changes from clinic to the community and from qualitative and quantitative to policy and food systems. The program is a two-year internship that currently accepts 10 interns annually during the fall who are admitted to the Master's in Public Health Nutrition at UC Berkeley. Students must have completed a Didactic Program in Dietetics to apply. The Nutrition Policy Institute will be a host organization for the program, and several NPI researchers—Lorrene Ritchie, Wendi Gosliner, Miranda Westfall, Suzanne Rauzon and Danielle Lee—serve on the program's advisory board. Applications to join the inaugural 2024 cohort are due December 4, 2023, at 8:59pm PST. Potential students are encouraged to attend the upcoming virtual and in-person open house informational sessions on November 14 and 16, 2023. For further questions, contact publichealthdi@berkeley.edu.
Nutrition Policy Institute researchers will present their collaborative research findings at the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior International Annual 2023 Conference in Washington, D.C. Wendi Gosliner presents on July 22, 9:45 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. ET as part of a session on "School Meals for All: Exploring Global Initiatives and Lessons Learned from California and Maine." Lorrene Ritchie presents a poster on July 23, 10:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ET titled "Transition to Freshly-Prepared School Meals: Impacts on Meal Appeal, Student Participation, Intake, Food and Packaging Waste & School Finances;" the poster is co-authored by Celeste Felix and Danielle Lee from NPI, Hannah Thompson, Kristine Madsen and Caroline Nguyen from the University of California, Berkeley, and Laura Vollmer from UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. Miranda Westfall presents a poster on July 23, 10:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ET titled "Assessments of Practices to Support Nutrition and Physical Activity at CA SNAP-Ed Eligible Schools Reveal Inequities;" the poster is co-authored by Janice Kao, Carolyn Rider, Sridharshi Hewawitharana, Amanda Linares, and Gail Woodward-Lopez from NPI.
- Author: Katherine Lanca
- Editor: Danielle L. Lee
- Editor: Lorrene Ritchie
The University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources is calling academics, UC ANR staff, and students to attend the kickoff of their 2025-2040 strategic visioning process at the UC ANR Statewide Conference on April 24-27, 2023 in Fresno, California. Topics of the conference include: healthy food systems, healthy environments, healthy communities, and healthy Californians. Nutrition Policy Institute researchers will attend the conference to share current challenges, best practices, and future opportunities pertaining to healthy food access and nutrition policy in California and nationally. NPI team members will also lead sessions on professional development and best research practices. In addition to presenting, NPI will have an interactive table in the UC ANR Resources Room where NPI team members can answer attendees' questions about NPI and the CalFresh Health Living Evaluation Unit. A list of the poster presentations and sessions led by NPI researchers is found below.
Community Nutrition
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Sharing Successes and Collaborations in Community Nutrition and Health
Session: Measuring outcomes of CalFresh Healthy Living: Collaborating to enhance evaluation rigor and apply an equity framework
Presenters: Kaela Plank, Miranda Westfall, and Barbara MkNelly
Monday, April 24, 2023, 11:00 a.m.- 12 p.m.
Drinking Water
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Enabling Consumption of Water: the Example of Schools
Session: What's New in the World of Water?
Presenter: Christina Hecht
Tuesday, April 25, 2023, 3:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
Nutrition Security
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Research to Inform Policy: Nutrition Security and Health Equity
Session: Food Systems: Healthy Planet, Healthy People
Presenter: Lorrene Ritchie
Tuesday, April 25, 2023, 8:00 a.m.- 10:00 a.m.
Professional Development and Research Skills
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Wheel of your Career
Session: Food Systems: Healthy Planet, Healthy People
Presenter: Danielle Lee
Wednesday, April 26, 2023, 10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
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From Science to Action: Tools and Techniques for Fact-Based Civic Engagement
Session: Strengthening Participatory Extension Approaches
Presenter: Christina Hecht
Thursday, April 27, 2023, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
School Food
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Universal School Meals in California: Challenges and Benefits Reported by Foodservice Directors and Parents
Poster: M-55
Presenter: Lorrene Ritchie
Monday, April 24, 2023, 6:30 p.m.- 8:30 p.m.
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Method for Evaluating Food Packaging Waste in Schools: Waste Audit for Sustainable Transitions and Evaluations (WASTE)
Poster: T-30
Presenter: Danielle Lee
Tuesday, April 25, 2023, 6:30 p.m.- 8:30 p.m.
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
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Highlighting the impact of multi-state research-to-policy efforts during COVID-19: understanding perspectives and utilization of WIC adaptations in California and beyond
Poster: M-64
Presenter: Lorrene Ritchie, Danielle Lee, and Marisa Tsai
Monday, April 24, 2023, 6:30 p.m.- 8:30 p.m.
- Author: Katherine Lanca
- Editor: Danielle L. Lee
- Editor: Amanda M Linares
- Editor: Miranda Westfall
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The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed), known as CalFresh Healthy Living (CFHL) in California, is the largest nutrition education program in the United States. CFHL supports healthy eating and active living in eligible California communities through direct education and policy, systems, and environmental changes, with a large portion of program activities taking place in schools. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced K-12 school closures, school-based in-person CFHL programming was adapted for online delivery. A new study examined the impact of modified CFHL program delivery during COVID-19 on dietary intake and physical activity among students in 47 intervention and 17 comparison schools. Researchers found that participation in CFHL during school closures significantly increased student fruit and vegetable intake. Findings demonstrate the protective effect of comprehensive nutrition and physical activity education programs during emergency social distancing measures. This study, published in the Public Health Nutrition journal, was conducted by Amanda Linares, Kaela Plank, Sridharshi Hewawitharana, and Gail Woodward-Lopez of the Nutrition Policy Institute with funding from the USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education.
- 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.