Dania Orta-Aleman

Dania Orta-Aleman earned her PhD in Human Nutrition from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where her dissertation focused on the factors associated with red and processed meat consumption among low-income households in the US. Dania also holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BA in Political Science from Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM).

Research Interests and Expertise

Dania's research is centered on evaluating federal food assistance programs, social determinants of health inequities, maternal and child health, food policies, and food systems. Her methodological expertise includes methods for causal inference, impact program evaluation, quasi-experimental methodologies, systems science, nutrition epidemiology, and qualitative data analysis.

Professional Experience

Currently, Dania serves as an Assistant Project Scientist at the Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI), University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources. In this role, she leads and collaborates on research projects evaluating the impact of Universal Free School Meals (UFSM) policies and USDA's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Her work involves designing and executing quantitative and qualitative impact evaluations, developing research protocols and data collection instruments, and disseminating findings through reports, policy briefs, and peer-reviewed publications.

Her previous work includes conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses for the World Health Organization. She contributed to the Hopkins/USDA Participant Research Innovation Laboratory for Enhancing WIC Services and the impact evaluation of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative on breastfeeding practices among WIC participants. Collaborating with the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, she worked on diverse research projects, including evaluating Food Policy Councils in the US and the Baltimore Food Policy Initiative. Additionally, she has conducted systematic literature reviews to inform the strategic planning for California's SNAP-Ed program. Dania's international expertise is highlighted by her coordination of data collection and analysis for the Older Adults Health and Nutrition Survey in Mexico City and the evaluation of a nutritional component of the Prospera/Oportunidades conditional cash transfer program in Mexico.

Dania is a member of the Board of Editors of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.