Past Members

Jodi Bernstein

Jodi was a part-time Post-doctoral Fellow in Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests include public and population health, the Canadian food supply, food policies, and the nutritional composition of foods. Jodi has an MPH and PhD in Nutrition from the University of Toronto. Jodi also has a business providing medical writing and editing support for academics, non-profit organizations, and medical device companies.

(2020-2022)

Iuna Alves

Iuna is a Visiting International Research Student in the Food, Nutrition and Health Program at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests include analysis of food consumption data, such as dietary characteristics, dietary patterns, sweetener consumption, and its association with health outcomes in populations.  She has an MSc in Human Nutrition, specialization in Human performance and in Herbal Medicine Applied to Clinical Nutrition, and she is currently a doctoral student in Nutritional Sciences with a focus on Nutritional Epidemiology at the Nutrition Graduate Program in the Institute of Nutrition Josué de Castro, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

(2022-2023)

Svilena Lazarova

Svilena is a graduate of the University of British Columbia, with a specialization in Nutritional Epidemiology. Her research interests lie in clinical nutrition, population health, non-communicable disease prevention, and diet modelling. She has a BSc in Human Biology and Nutrition from the University of Glasgow and an MSc in Nutrition from the University of British Columbia.

(2020-2021)

Adelia Jacobs

Adelia is completing her Master of Science in Human Nutrition at the University of British Columbia. Her thesis is focused on nutrient profiling systems with applications to policy for front-of-package labelling. Adelia was awarded with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Canada Graduate Scholarship Master’s Award. She is also a Registered Dietitian, currently practicing at the BC Children’s Hospital, having completed her Bachelor of Science with a major in Dietetics in the Food, Nutrition, and Health program at UBC. Through consistent involvement in leadership and community work, as well as research and clinical practice, Adelia’s vision is to improve health at a population level by integrating her clinical knowledge with her passion for public health and policy.

(2020-2023)

Zeena Badran

Zeena is a nutritional epidemiology research assistant at the Yale school of public health. Her interests include optimizing health through educating people about nutrition, as well as helping all levels of the population have access to adequate nutrition. She is currently an undergraduate student enrolled in the Food, Nutrition and Health Program at the University of British Columbia.

(2021-2022)

Yu Chia (Natasha) Hu

Natasha is a research assistant in nutritional epidemiology at the University of British Columbia and Yale School of Public Health. She has supported the work on the Canadian Community Health Survey to uncover variabilities in nutritional composition and is currently working on the on-reserve food dataset using the Canadian Nutrient File and USDA FoodData to assess the diets of Inuit communities in the Canadian Arctic. Her research and career interests lie in public health nutrition, chronic disease epidemiology, food insecurity, and global health. She is passionate about chronic disease prevention and seeks to improve health policies.

(2021-2022)

Angie Wu

Angie is an international student from Costa Rica, studying Food, Nutrition, and Health (FNH) with a Minor in Commerce at the University of British Columbia. Throughout her experiences from a Mathematics degree to a FNH degree, she developed a passion for data science and machine learning in nutrition and public health. Currently, she is a nutritional epidemiology research assistant with the Ph.D. fellow, Sappho Gilbert, and Dr. Mahsa Jessri, utilizing an algorithm to unfold population dietary patterns. In the future, she wants to pursue a career in HealthTech to improve the accessibility and efficiency of the healthcare system. Aside from her professional pursuits, Angie enjoys drawing, trying new weird food combinations, and hiking.

(2021-2022)

Raphael Berz

Raphael is interested in researching the economic and policy levers to combat food security in northern Canada’s remote communities. He is an undergraduate at Yale University studying Economics and Mathematics with a certificate in Statistics and Data Science. He will begin working as a management consultant after graduating in 2023. He is a member of the Yale Lightweight Crew team and has competed for the Canadian under 23 rowing team.

(2021-2022)

Joy Mao

Joy Mao is a research assistant currently using algorithm-aided matching of an on-reserve food retail dataset to the Canadian Nutrient File, to assess and compare diets in Nunavut. Her research interests concentrate on nutrition in disease prevention, behaviour, and neurological health. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Food, Nutrition and Health (Nutritional Sciences) from the University of British Columbia.

(2021-2022)

Rachel Chan

Rachel is a researcher of the Indigenous food scoping review sub-team. The research project aims to examine the extent to which dietary guidelines specific to and involving Indigenous Peoples in the United States and Canada exist in the scientific and grey literature. Rachel is interested in public health nutrition and how social and ecological factors affect population health. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Food, Nutrition and Health from the University of British Columbia. In her spare time, she likes to spend time in nature and with friends. 

(2020-2023)

Joy Tang

Joy is an undergraduate student in Dietetics at Food, Nutrition and Health Program, University of British Columbia. Her current role in the lab includes assisting the algorithm-aided matching of the on-reserve food retail dataset to the Canadian Nutrient File and the USDA FoodData. Her research interests include food security and vitamin deficiency in Northern remote communities, cultural safety and cultural competence in dietetics practices, and the application of weight-inclusive nutrition and dietetics practices. 

(2021-2022)

Areej Altaf

Areej Altaf is a student at the University of British Columbia studying Dietetics. Her research is assisting in the Nutritional Epidemiology research project with Dr. Mahsa Jessri and Ph.D. fellow Sappho Gilbert. Her role is using algorithm-aided matching of the on-reserve food retail dataset to the Canadian Nutrient File and the USDA FoodData. Her research interests include population health, community food security, and food sovereignty.

(2021-2022)

Priya Sian

Priya was a research assistant for the Nutrition Epi for Population Health (NEPoH) project. Her research interests include food security, neurodegenerative diseases, and public health. She has a Bachelor of Science in Food, Nutrition, and Health and she plans on taking a gap year before attending medical school. In her free time, Priya likes to go on walks with her dog, she likes to go to the gym, and she enjoys hanging out with friends and family. 

(2021-2022)

Amy Dong

Amy is a research assistant working on the algorithm-aided matching of an on-reserve food retail dataset to the Canadian Nutrient File. Her research interests revolve around community nutrition, food insecurity, and social determinants of health. She has a BSc in Food, Nutrition and Health (Nutritional Sciences) from the University of British Columbia. 

(2020-2022)

Jesman Punian

Jesman was a research assistant with the Nutrition Epi for Population Health (NEPoH) research group. Her research interests include water security, food security, and public health studies. Jesman has a Bachelor of Science in Food Nutrition and Health and is currently a MPH student at the University of British Columbia. In her free time, Jesman enjoys going for runs, reading, and spending quality time with friends and family.

(2020-2023)

Ashley Li

Ashley is a Nursing undergraduate student at the School of Nursing, University of British Columbia. With her NEPoH team, she is currently undertaking a scoping review of the academic and grey literature on the prevalence and quality of dietary guidelines made for and/or by Indigenous Peoples in the U.S. and Canada. Ashley has previously studied the relationship between immunology and nutrition at the University of British Columbia in the BSc program.

(2020-2023)

Seamus Damstrom

Seamus is currently working on the scoping review on Indigenous food/dietary guidelines. His research interests include Indigenous food sovereignty, incorporation of Indigenous foods in healthcare, and the role of anti-racism in Dietetics and healthcare. Additionally, he is interested in improving the incorporation and acknowledgment of Indigenous ways of knowing in Dietetic education and training. Seamus is completing his B.Sc in Food, Nutrition, and Health (Major: Dietetics) from the University of British Columbia. His interests include long-distance running, cooking/baking, and watching hockey.

(2020-2023)

Jacey Gowler

Jacey is an undergraduate student majoring in Dietetics at the Food, Nutrition, and Health Program, University of British Columbia. Her interests in nutrition include food as disease prevention and encouraging others to cultivate a positive relationship with food. 

(2021-2022)

Negar Karami

Negar was an undergraduate research student as part of the Nutritional Epidemiology for Population Health team. Her role in the lab included validating an algorithm’s ability to link a branded consumer product database to the Canadian Nutrient File. Her research interests include population health and chronic disease prevention. Negar has a BSc in Dietetics from the University of British Columbia.

(2019-2021)

Tania Suradja

Tania is a research assistant in the Nutritional Epidemiology for Population Health (NEPoH) research group and is currently involved in the development of a dietary pattern calculator. Her research interest includes chronic disease prevention, population health, and food security. She is a 5th-year undergraduate student in the Dietetics Program at the University of British Columbia. 

(2019-2022)