Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Health Disparities Research Resources

Obesity is a chronic disease that disproportionately affects individuals from non-majority racial/ethnic groups in the United States. In addition, nutrition-based diseases are more likely to impact marginalized populations. Research shows that individuals from minority racial/ethnic backgrounds consider accessing providers from diverse backgrounds essential. Health care providers and scientists from minority racial/ethnic groups are more likely than non-Hispanic whites to treat or conduct research on patients from underrepresented groups.

In our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Health Disparities Research section, we aim to provide resources for scientists interested in addressing nutrition and obesity with a lens toward DEI and mitigating health disparities.

Steering Committee (SC) for Diversity and Inclusion of Scientists from Underrepresented Groups in Academia

José Fernández, PhD

Professor and Vice Chair for Education
Department of Nutrition Sciences, School of Health Professions
University of Alabama at Birmingham

Dympna Gallagher, EdD

Professor of Nutritional Medicine (in Medicine and in the Institute of Human Nutrition)
Columbia University Medical Center

Steven Grinspoon, MD

Chief, MGH Metabolism Unit
Harvard Medical School

Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, PhD, RD

Dean, The Graduate School
Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor of Nutrition and Medicine
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Fatima Cody Stanford, MD, MPH, MPA, MBA

Associate Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics
Harvard Medical School

Ursula White, PhD

Assistant Professor-Research
Physiology of Human Adipose Tissue
Pennington Biomedical Research Center

Mary Evans, PhD

Program Director, Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases