Letter from Keith West, Director of the Center for Human NutritionOn behalf of our team, it is a pleasure to introduce you to the Johns Hopkins Center for Human Nutrition! I hope this letter gives you a sense of the diversity of academic, research and policy activities in the Center that are serving to improve human nutrition throughout the world.  Our Center was founded in 1990 by Professor Benjamin Caballero within the Program in Human Nutrition of the Department of International Health, where it continues to enjoy its “institutional home.” The Center was created to develop stronger collaborative networks in nutrition research, training, education and advocacy across departments and other centers in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, School of Medicine (including the Kennedy Krieger and Wilmer Eye Institutes), and School of Nursing, and the US Department of Agriculture facilities in Beltsville, Maryland. The Center has continued to grow in recent years through mid-2009 under the able leadership of Professor Laura Caulfield. Today, we have nearly 50 affiliated faculty, including our 15 full-time faculty within the Program in Human Nutrition.
Acting on our mandate to network resources to strengthen nutrition research within (and outside) Hopkins, Center faculty have built research enterprises, many population-based, that span the globe, leading studies that are - tackling the obesity epidemics in the United States and China
- designing and testing strategies to provide healthier food choices in urban food stores in the United States
- testing dietary interventions to lose weight and exploring dietary patterns that may reduce risks of diabetes and cardiovascular disease
- revealing the effects of different maternal, infant and child micronutrient supplements on health, cognition, development and survival in Southern Asia
- exploring the plasma proteome for micronutrient and inflammatory biomarkers of public health utility
- improving growth and nutritional status by reducing the burden of childhood diarrhea
- testing effects of bioactive foods on risks of cancer and infection in several countries
- evaluating effects of nutrition interventions, infant feeding and sanitation on risk of HIV-related morbidity and survival in infants in Africa (Zimbabwe)
- revealing influences of water on health and nutrition in South Asia and South America
- exploring nutritional factors affecting health, function and survival in older persons in Europe (Italy).
These undertakings, in turn, develop strong institutional research partners throughout the world, and outstanding opportunities for both doctoral and masters students to be trained in research, program design and evaluation, and policy development in diverse and challenging settings, representing the “front line of public health nutrition.” Center faculty currently collaborate with nutrition institutions in approximately twenty countries around the world. Driven by our goal to leverage resources to influence policy, Center faculty are routinely engaged in writing policy-relevant treatises for United Nations organizations, bilateral agencies, foundations and non-governmental organizations. Recent examples include contributions to the "WHO Global Burden of Disease" (2004), the World Bank-sponsored "Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries II" (2006), and the WHO Global Prevalence of Vitamin A Deficiency (2009). Center faculty are routinely involved in Institute of Medicine committees, including serving for years on committees that have determined the Dietary Reference Intakes for the United States (2001-2007) or, most recently, that evaluated the impact of the 2008 financial crisis on vulnerable populations (2009). Faculty have recently contributed to the most recent global treatise on nutrition and cancer compiled by the World Cancer Research Fund (2007), and to WHO committees on developing growth references for preschoolers and adolescents. Faculty have published key reference volumes in nutrition, such as International Public Health: Diseases, Programs, Systems, and Policies (2006), Nutrition and Health in Developing Countries (2007), and to editing and contributing multiple chapters to the Encyclopedia of Human Nutrition, now in its second edition (2007). These efforts are in addition to over 50 papers reporting original nutrition research findings published by Center faculty each year. Networking within the Center for Human Nutrition has also led to dividends in our academic program, illustrated by our linked Masters’ level graduate program in Human Nutrition with the Johns Hopkins Bayview Dietetics Program. This joint undertaking provides students with an opportunity to complete an American Dietetics Association (ADA) approved dietetic internship while they complete either a Masters in Health Sciences (MHS) or Masters in Public Health (MPH) degree program. This joint program has, so far, grown each year, attracting an increasingly diverse and talented group of MHS/RD program candidates with interests in pursing both domestic and international dietetics. Beyond this innovation in graduate dietetics training, the outreach provided by the Center in Human Nutrition has enabled doctoral graduates in our Program in Human Nutrition to assume positions in academia, research institutions, government and multilateral program and policy organizations throughout the world. Dynamic research, training, advocacy and advances in policy that improve the plight of the nutritionally vulnerable requires resources. We are grateful to our expanding list of funding agencies, foundations and other donors, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the US Agency for International Development, the National Institutes of Health, the Sight and Life Research Institute, the Middendorf Foundation, DSM, Ltd, Friends of George G. Graham, the Harry D. Kruse Family, the Bacon Chow Family and many others. This year marks my 32nd year at Johns Hopkins, initially as a graduate student, but as faculty since 1982, in both Schools of Medicine and Public Health. When I first met George Graham in 1977, Founding Director of our current Program in Human Nutrition, I was struck by the evidence and conviction in his voice that improving dietary protein quality would enhance growth and protect body composition of infants in the developing world—a claim that has withstood decades of subsequent research. At that time the Human Nutrition Program was small but already leading the way, with vision, data and advocacy. Today, we are in an exciting period in the history of the Center, as it growths but continues this tradition of generating relevant data on critical public health issues, and when adequate, turning to advocacy to protect the nutritionally vulnerable through policies and programs. We invite you to explore our site, interact with us, and share our vision through graduate training and collaboration. Sincerely, Keith P. West, Jr., Dr.P.H., R.D. Director, Center for Human Nutrition
George G. Graham Professor of Infant and Child Nutrition |
