Leadership Team
Julia L. Finkelstein, MPH, ScD
Director, MCN Training Program
Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition
Division of Nutritional Sciences
The Finkelstein laboratory focuses on the role of vitamin B12, folate, and iron in the etiology of anemia and maternal and child health outcomes, to develop interventions to improve the health of women and children. During the past decade, I have conducted maternal and child nutrition research in clinical and community settings in India, Sub-Saharan Africa, South America, and the United States. Through these experiences, I have developed expertise in the design and conduct of randomized trials, cohort studies, and surveillance programs in high-risk obstetric and pediatric populations in resource-limited settings.
I am Principal Investigator of several studies investigating the role of iron, vitamin B12, and folate, in the development of anemia and adverse pregnancy outcomes, including randomized trials, cohort studies, and surveillance programs. We have established population-based periconceptional, pregnancy, and pediatric cohorts in Southern India, which informs the development of randomized clinical trials and evidence-based interventions to improve maternal and child nutrition. We recently completed a pre-intervention biomarker survey among 1,192 women of reproductive age, as part of a population-based periconceptional surveillance program in Southern India, funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Findings informed the development of the first randomized efficacy trial of quadruple-fortified salt (i.e., vitamin B12, folic acid, iron, iodine) which we are conducting among 1,000 households in Southern India. Our CDC and NIH-funded research program established and supports a regional reference laboratory for the WHO-recommended method for assessment of erythrocyte folate and serum folate, and World Health Organization-SEARO site for newborn and birth defects surveillance.
Laura Bellows, PhD, MPH
Associate Professor, Division of Nutritional Sciences
Director, Graduate Field of Nutrition
Broadly, my research examines the impact of community-based interventions on public health outcomes. Specifically, my work focuses on the development of eating habits and physical activity patterns in early childhood audiences. To date my work has utilized innovative approaches in the development, implementation, and evaluation of interventions aimed at preventing childhood obesity in preschool settings and the home environment. I am committed to improving health outcomes through community-informed interventions by promoting health equity amongst at-risk audiences - those with limited resources, who are Hispanic, living in rural settings, and with limited health literacy.
My research goals are to continue to explore how modifiable behaviors and environments impact child and caregiver behaviors related to nutrition, physical activity, and healthy growth. This goal is guided by a philosophy which espouses the close connection between behavior and health outcomes and a commitment to influencing behaviors in early childhood and at-risk populations, particularly those which relate to childhood obesity.
While my primary research activities have focused on early childhood audiences and settings, I have expanded my work recently to examine: children’s menus in the restaurant setting; parent child interactions related to active play, and the relationship of school meal participation and the quality of home food acquisitions. Along with my early childhood work, these efforts encompass a mix of four core areas that drive my research program: behavior change, community-based interventions, systems thinking and health equities.
Kathleen Rasmussen, ScD
Founding Director, MCN Training Program
My research program focuses on the relationship between maternal nutritional status during the reproductive period and maternal and child health outcomes. We have shown, first in experimental animals, then in women who participated in the INCAP cohort study in Guatemala as well as more recently in the women of the Danish National Birth Cohort, that there is a trade-off between mother and infant in the consequences of variation weight gain during pregnancy. These findings were important in the development of the 2009 guidelines for weight gain during pregnancy. Most recently, I have collaborated with colleagues in Brazil to develop weight gain guidelines for Brazil. With this group and the World Health Organization, we are beginning the process to develop guidelines that are more broadly applicable. Similarly, we have shown, first in experimental animals and then in human subjects, that the extremes of maternal nutritional status are both associated with poor lactation performance. In 2 randomized trials, we established that supplementation of undernourished Indonesian and Guatemalan women, respectively, resulted in improvements in milk composition and breastfeeding behavior. In a series of observational studies, we showed that maternal obesity is associated with a lower likelihood of initiating breastfeeding and a shorter duration of breastfeeding—even in Denmark, a country with good social support for breastfeeding. We have examined the biological basis for this finding as well as the psychosocial and sociocultural factors that are also important. Moreover, from our most recent randomized trial with colleagues in Sweden, we showed that heavier lactating women can lose weight and keep it off—without affecting their breastfeeding success. Most recently, we have been exploring aspects of women’s now common practice of pumping their milk for others to feed their babies. This process may have implications for their and their infants’ health. This is because using a pump interferes with nearly every aspect of at-the-breast feeding.
John Hoddinott, DPhil
H.E. Babcock Professor of Food & Nutrition Economics and Policy, Division of Nutritional Sciences
Dr. Hoddinott is interested in the causes of poverty, food insecurity and undernutrition, and the design and evaluation of interventions that would reduce these. He has undertaken work on poverty dynamics, intrahousehold resource allocation, schooling, labour markets aid allocation and on improving survey methods. His current research interests focus on the links between economics (especially social protection, agriculture and gender), food security and early life nutrition. He has ongoing collaborative projects in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Guatemala.