Marisa Tsai has been named as a finalist for the Emerging Leaders in Nutrition Science Abstract Recognition Award Program, a program of the American Society for Nutrition that recognizes the highest quality research presented by students and young investigators at Nutrition 2022 Live Online. Tsai is a research data analyst at the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Nutrition Policy Institute, and a doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health. More than 700 abstracts were submitted by students and postdoctoral fellows and the award program aims to recognize the top 15% highest scoring abstracts. Abstracts were rated by more than 400 nutrition scientists. Finalists will be recognized during the Nutrition 2022 Live Online conference that will be held virtually from June 14-16, 2022. Tsai's abstract is titled “Larger WIC Cash Value Benefit for Vegetables and Fruit Is Associated With Lower Food Insecurity and Improved Participant Satisfaction in WIC Families With Children”.
- Author: Danielle L. Lee
- Contributor: Marisa M Tsai
Marisa Tsai, researcher at the University of California Nutrition Policy Institute, received the UC Berkeley School of Public Health Cheri Pies award for her doctoral work to examine intergenerational transmission of food security. Tsai began her work as an NPI researcher in May 2018 and recently started her doctoral studies in Epidemiology in Fall 2021 at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. Her project will examine intergenerational transmission of food security using data from the National Institutes of Health and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development National Growth and Health Study, a longitudinal study which began in 1987. The Cheri Pies award–totaling $3,500–is presented to one UC Berkeley School of Public Health graduate student each year who best applies any of the core concepts of the Life Course Theory–which approaches health as an integrated trajectory of growth and development where social, economic, and physical environments impact individual and community health–to their dissertation or other type of scholarly project.
Lorrene Ritchie, cooperative extension nutrition specialist and director of the Nutrition Policy Institute, was awarded the title of ‘Platinum Author‘ in 2022 by the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. This designation was granted because of Ritchie's authorship of more than 10 articles in the journal over the past 10 years. She will be featured in a poster at the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior 2022 Annual Conference.
Throughout the pandemic, the Nutrition Policy Institute policy team, Christina Hecht and Ken Hecht, have partnered with a Stanford University research team and two San Joaquin Valley community-based organizations to help improve access to school meals. The team's study included parent focus groups to capture parents' concerns and wishes regarding their children's school meals, and a parent PhotoVoice project to visually document school meals. Nearly all parent engagements were conducted in Spanish and study findings were reported to the community via a bilingual webinar and Radio Bilingüe. Recently introduced state (California SB 364) and federal (The Universal School Meals Program Act of 2021) legislation aim to provide free school meals for all enrolled children. Both bills include added funds for locally-sourced foods and the establishment of a “Summer EBT” program to provide low-income families with extra funds for food when schools – and school meal programs – are closed. Learn about the legislation and read parent viewpoints in Parent Voices: School Meals for All, Parent Voices: Local Foods for School Meals, and Parent Voices: Summer EBT. This work was supported with funding from the American Heart Association Voices for Healthy Kids, The Center at Sierra Health Foundation and the San Joaquin Valley Health Fund, Stanford Medical Scholars Program, Stanford Pediatric Resident Research Grant, and Share Our Strength No Kid Hungry. This work also received a United States Public Health Service 2021 Excellence in Public Health Award.
Nutrition Policy Institute associate researcher, Lauren Au, is the honored recipient of the 2020 Tufts University Friedman Rising Star Award for making significant contributions to the nutrition field and demonstrating a continued commitment to effect change. Lauren is described as “an exceptionally capable researcher, mentor, and colleague, who has consistently demonstrated her commitment to the pursuit of a research career”. Lauren graduated with her PhD in Food Policy and Applied Nutrition from Tufts in 2013.