Using Evidence-Based Nutrition Science: Achieving Healthier Organizations and Communities

Using Evidence-Based Nutrition Science: Achieving Healthier Organizations and Communities gives you and your organization the opportunity to engage with respected experts in evidence-based nutrition, obesity, food insecurity, sustainability, food policy, and food safety using real-life case studies and focused discussions to explore concrete solutions.

If you are interested in commissioning this program specifically tailored to your organization, or any other custom programs, please contact Rebecca Moore at 617.432.2207 or rmoore@hsph.harvard.edu.

Program Overview

This 2.5 day course will translate insights from new nutrition research into practical guidance for your organization or community.  The program will cover the latest in-depth knowledge emerging from nutrition science, explore important controversies, translate lessons from failed attempts to shift stubborn nutrition and food choices, and identify concrete opportunities to pursue.  Participants will engage with respected experts in evidence-based nutrition, obesity, food insecurity, sustainability, food policy, and food safety through real-life case studies and focused discussions.  Issues such as food and calorie quality, effective approaches for influencing consumer behavior, promotion of plant-based diets, the role of marketing in food choice, and lessons learned from unsuccessful efforts aimed at improving healthy eating will be the focus of large and small group interaction.

Program Objectives

  • Building a firm understanding of current, state of the art findings in nutrition science and policies that provide a foundation for effective actions to promote healthy eating
  • Understanding key controversies in nutrition science and policy that affect organizational or community buy-in to improve nutrition and health
  • Benchmarking your organization or community activities using new initiatives being implemented elsewhere
  • Identifying opportunities in your own organization or community to create and implement evidence-based nutrition strategies to improve health
  • Expanding your organization’s or community’s capacity to understand and address current issues in domestic nutrition policy, including health equity and sustainability

Organizations That Benefit

This program will be customized to benefit a wide range of organizations, including food manufacturers, food service companies, nonprofits and foundations, government policy makers at all levels, and organizations that advocate for better public health nutrition.

Sara Bleich, BA, PhD

Professor of Public Health Policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management.  Professor Bleich’s scholarship lies at the nexus of health policy and health services. Her research provides evidence to support policy alternatives for obesity prevention and control, particularly among populations at higher risk. She holds degrees from Columbia BA in Psychology from Columbia and a PhD in Health Policy from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Eric Rimm, ScD

Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition and Director of the Program in Cardiovascular Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School.  For over two decades, he has conducted extensive research on the health effects of diet and lifestyle in relation to obesity and chronic disease.  He is internationally recognized for his extensive work in the study of the health effects of moderate alcohol consumption, whole grains, micronutrients, and polyphenols.  He holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin and a PhD in Epidemiology from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Gary Adamkiewicz, MEng, MPH, PhD

Assistant Professor of Environmental Health and Exposure Disparities in Harvard T.H. Chan’s Department of Environmental Health. He researches better decision-making by examining the implications of food choices through the lenses of nutrition, human health, environmental degradation, occupational health, climate change and sustainability. Motivated by a desire to alleviate environmental health disparities, he works to identify the specific aspects of housing, communities, and neighborhoods that shape an individual’s health. Gary holds a BEng in Chemical Engineering from Manhattan College, a MEng in Chemical Engineering from Manhattan College, a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an MPH in Quantitative Methods from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.