My research is motivated by a global unmet need for actionable population data on diet and nutrition. To address this need, I used my training as a nutritional epidemiologist over the past decade to collect and analyze population data on diet and nutritional status, apply these data to identify target groups for nutrition programs, inform program design and evaluation, and support population surveillance. My research has involved broad-based knowledge acquisition including links between nutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, growth, pregnancy outcomes, cardiometabolic risks, infections, and environmental exposures, with a strong focus on quantitative and statistical methods. I have conducted and directed a total of 5 years of in-country research with universities, research centers, and NGOs in Mongolia, Bangladesh, and Thailand, where I also gained experience directing research programs, organizing international conferences and workshops, and conducting high-level advocacy for nutrition policy. I have directly led and co-led the preparation of grant proposals that have collectively provided over 2 million USD in research funding and have have 48 peer-reviewed articles in press or accepted for publication.

My primary academic interests are in implementation research to develop tools, methods, and coordinated institutional capacity for generating population nutrition data, and supporting scale-up of these tools and methods and their integration in population surveillance and research platforms. Currently, I am based in Bangkok as an NIH Fogarty Global Health Fellow with the Community Nutrition Unit at the Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University and the Department of Global Health and Populations at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. I recently obtained funding from The Rockefeller Foundation to coordinate research between Mahidol, Harvard, and FHI Solutions to extend consensus and build capacity for standardized measuring of diet quality and key nutritional biomarkers in population surveys in the Global South.

I received a BA in Chemistry from New York University, MPH in International Health / Epidemiology from the University of Michigan, Doctor of Science in Nutrition from Harvard University funded by an NIH National Research Service Award, and postdoctoral training at Harvard funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As a doctoral student, I trained hundreds of students to assess diet across Mongolia and advocated for expansion of the country’s food fortification law. As a postdoc, I directed a two-year international project that produced the Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS). I was nominated for full membership in Sigma Xi in 2021.