Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

My research merges a community-based participatory approach with quantitative and qualitative epidemiological methods to study food environments, food security, nutrition, and non-communicable disease among marginalized populations. Previously, these interests have led to projects on the burden and determinants of anemia, diabetes, and the double burden of malnutrition in Guatemala and southern India. Currently, I am conducting post-doctoral research on nutrition and environmental health in Nunavik, northern Quebec. I recently secured a position as Assistant Professor in Global Health and Qualitative Methods with the Department of Population Medicine at the University of Guelph. In the coming years, I plan to expand my research activities through three pillars, including: (1) examining the role of food environments in the double burden of malnutrition in south Asia through connections with the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation; (2) developing tools to assess food consumption and food environments in the face of the nutrition transition and climate change amongst Indigenous populations in Uganda and Peru within the CIHR-funded project, Climate Change and Indigenous Food Security, Food Safety, and Food Systems (CC-IFS3); and (3) examining associations between country food nutrients, contaminants, and cardiometabolic health outcomes in Nunavik under the overarching project Qaanuilirpitaa ('How are we now?'). These projects emphasize strong community partnerships, knowledge dissemination, and usable research outcomes (including academic and policy outputs). Such research aligns with the Institute for Population and Public Health (IPPH) mandate in several ways. I am currently at an ideal stage in my career to attend a Starting Investigator Workshop offered through the CIHR IPPH. This workshop offers an opportunity to establish my skills in research, knowledge dissemination, and grant writing in a supportive environment.