Nutrition Policy Institute director Hannah Thompson was selected as a UCDC Presidential Faculty Fellow through the University of California Washington Program. The fellowship brings together UC faculty to Washington, DC after equipping them with the skills to engage with policymakers on Capitol Hill on issues that directly impact California and the Nation. Thompson is one of 11 fellows from across the UC systems in the 2026 cohort.

Thompson’s research focuses on improving cardiometabolic health at the intersection of science, community, and policy. She evaluates youth-facing policies like mandated physical education, recess, and nutritious meals in public schools, as well as federal programmatic approaches like WIC, CACFP, and SNAP-Ed, that have tremendous potential for both short- and long-term health impact.

As a 2026 fellow, Thompson will spend a week in Washington, D.C. (May 17-22) meeting with federal stakeholders to discuss the importance of policies that require and support daily physical education, or PE, and universal meals in K-12 schools. She will share how such policies should require and fund daily school-based physical activity and school meals to improve child health and reduce long-term healthcare costs.

Thompson’s latest collaborative research on school-based physical activity has illuminated gaps in state infrastructure for school fitness testing ahead of President Trump’s July 2025 executive order to reestablish the Presidential Fitness Test. She and her research colleagues found that structured play in California elementary schools may contribute to reducing chronic absenteeism and the disproportionate impacts of school-based physical activity in New York City public schools across racial and ethnic groups, highlighting the need for policies that ensure equitable access to physical activity for students of all backgrounds. Additionally, Thompson’s work with NPI researchers and others across the nation to evaluate the impact of universal school meals has shown the importance of such policies—which have overwhelming support from parents, students and foodservice staff—to improve food insecurity and reduce stigma.

Thompson recently shared about her research in an interview with UC ANR’s Michael Hsu.