不良研究所

Welcome to our Current Research Team!

On this page you will find Our Current Associate Professor, Research candidates and Interns

Grace Marquis, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, School of听Human Nutrition
Human Nutritionist

Grace S. Marquis is Associate Professor at 不良研究所 and Associate Professor/Collaborator at Iowa State University. Her research career began in Peru at the Instituto de Investigaci贸n Nutricional. In 1999, her research group started working in Ghana. These long-term collaborations continue today. The work in Ghana is primarily through the Nutrition Research and Training Centre, a permanent research site which she built in the Eastern Region in collaboration with faculty at the University of Ghana. Her community-based research examines how many social, cultural, biological, and environmental factors interact and the mechanisms by which they alter a household鈥檚 ability to provide optimal feeding and caregiving for young children. Based on acquired knowledge, her research group develops alternative strategies that will support child health and growth and are feasible for families in poverty. Dr. Marquis is Associate Editor for Advances in Nutrition. She was the Canadian Research Chair in Social and Environmental Aspects of Nutrition from 2006-2016. She received a Doctorate of Laws,听honoris causa, for contribution to tertiary education from the University of Ghana in 2013.

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Mona Ghadirian, MPH,鈥疨h.D.鈥疌andidate

Mona has a Bachelor of Arts and Science in International Development and Biomedical Science from 不良研究所 and a Master of Public Health from the University of Waterloo. Her research interests include adolescent nutrition, nutrition literacy, education, youth participatory action research, and participatory visual methodologies. Her doctoral research aimed to understand how participatory video nutrition education can play a role in influencing nutrition literacy among adolescent girls in rural Ghana. She has also been working as a consultant in adolescent nutrition and participatory video methodologies for organizations like Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, Nutrition International, Olinga Foundation, and Associates for Change.

Aishat Abdu, MSc,鈥疨h.D鈥�. Candidate

Aishat holds Bachelor鈥檚 in Dietetics from Ahfad University for Women (Sudan) and a Master鈥檚 in Human Nutrition from 不良研究所. Her research interests are in gender, empowerment, nutrition-sensitive agriculture intervention, household food security, and women鈥檚 nutritional status. She is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at the School of Human Nutrition, 不良研究所 under the supervision of Prof. Grace Marquis and her doctoral committee members Prof. Richmond Aryeetey (University of Ghana) and Prof. Franque Grimard (不良研究所). Her doctoral research uses a mixed-method approach to explore and understand measures of empowerment among rural women farmers and their linkages to women鈥檚 nutritional outcomes and household food security in rural Ghana. Aishat has collaborated previously with NGOs to conduct gender-related research and develop a policy report. She has years of field research experience in rural settings of the African continent, developing and implementing surveys and qualitative approaches.听

Priscilla Boadi, MIF, Ph.D. Candidate

Priscilla has a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources Management from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana). In 2016, she obtained a Master of Science in International Forestry from the University of British Columbia (Canada) as a MasterCard Foundation Scholar. Her research interests include nutrition-sensitive agriculture, women's empowerment, women's and youth nutrition, agripreneurship, poverty alleviation, and sustainable food systems. Her doctoral research aims to assess the nutrition sensitivity of food and agricultural policies and investments in Ghana.

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Shabnam Hosseini, MSc Student

Shabnam holds Bachelor鈥檚 in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (Iran). In 2019, she obtained her Master of Business Administration from Tehran Business School (Iran). Shabnam has almost eight years of research experience in Iran, developing and implementing surveys, and working as a nutritionist at hospitals and her own office in Iran. She is currently pursuing her MSc at the School of Human Nutrition, 不良研究所. Her research uses a mixed-methods approach to explore and understand neglected micronutrient deficiencies among women in rural Eastern Region of Ghana. She is eager to work in international institutions and help improve the well-being of women.

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Marisol Vidal Batres, MSc Student

Marisol holds a bachelor's degree in nutrition from the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi (UASLP). Currently, she is completing her master鈥檚 degree in Human Nutrition at 不良研究所. Her Master鈥檚 project is focused on risk factors for interrupting exclusive breastfeeding such as maternal and infant symptoms in the Peruvian population under the supervision of Dr. Grace Marquis. Previously she worked as a research assistant at the UASLP. The research was focused on obesity and its comorbidities in the infant and adult Mexican population. Also, she holds experience as a dietitian in Mexico.听听She participated in a summer internship at the University of Illinois in the project 鈥淎briendo Caminos鈥�. Her research interests are infant feeding practices and non-communicable diseases.听听听

Sherry Zhu, MSc Student

Sherry obtained her BSc in Nutritional Science with a concentration in Health and Disease from 不良研究所 in 2019. She is currently completing the MSc Applied Project program in Human Nutrition at 不良研究所 under the supervision of Dr. Grace Marquis. Given her interest in women鈥檚 empowerment in the majority world, her project focuses on investigating the association between women鈥檚 empowerment and children鈥檚 nutritional status in the Eastern Region of Ghana.

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Current Interns

Ana Maria Maldonado Garza, Bsc Student

Ana Mar铆a Maldonado Garza is completing her last year of BSc in Nutrition and Wellness at the University Instituto Tecnol贸gico de Monterrey. She is currently enrolled in 不良研究所鈥檚 Undergraduate Research Trainee Program as part of her electives courses since July 2022. She has been supporting the PhD research focusing on the linkages between women's empowerment with nutritional status and household food security in rural Ghana, working with survey and dietary data.听 She has previously been involved in several extracurricular activities: President of the Nutrition and Wellness Alumni Society (2020-2021), General Director of the Transformational Leadership Award (2021) and has been actively involved in social activities such as being the Coordinator of the Social Service of Nutrition and Exercise for Adults (NAFA) and participated in medical brigades. Her research interests are in global nutrition, maternal and child nutrition, food security and sustainable food production.听

Alumni

On this section , you will find previous Research Candidates and Interns

Diana Dallmann, Ph.D鈥�.

Diana holds a PhD in Human Nutrition from 不良研究所 and is interested in understanding the drivers of successful implementation of policies and interventions to improve maternal & child nutrition. Her PhD research combined quantitative and qualitative methods to evaluate women鈥檚 participation in a nutrition-sensitive agriculture intervention in Ghana. Diana believes in the importance of capacity building and knowledge sharing, and accumulated over ten years of training & teaching experience in low-, middle-, and high-income countries. She also has experience collaborating with NGOs addressing food insecurity in different countries, where she developed surveys, trained field research assistants, analyzed data, and wrote reports.听Currently, she's working remotely as an independent researcher.

Yvonne Goh, Ph.D.

Yvonne has a BSc in Nutrition and Food Science and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Ghana. She has seven years of听experience in nutrition field research in rural and peri-urban settings of Ghana. Her doctoral research investigated the infant and young child feeding (IYCF) environment in rural Ghana using mixed methods and tested an innovative mass media nutrition education intervention to address poor IYCF practices. She is interested in nutrition intervention research to improve maternal and child outcomes in low resource settings. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco and working on the Multiply-Fortified Salt (MFS) trial in Northern India. The trial aims to test the efficacy of salt fortified with iron, zinc, vitamin B12, folic acid, and iodine on the micronutrient status of non-pregnant women of reproductive age and preschool-aged children.

Meray Arnouk, MSc Student

Meray received her Bachelor鈥檚 degree in pharmacology in her home country of Syria. Her work as an NGO-affiliated health educator in refugee camps showed her the importance of the social determinants of health for proper nutrition and disease prevention. Passionate about humanitarian work, she pursued a Master鈥檚 in nutrition at 不良研究所 with a focus on global nutrition. Her research was unique; a mixed methods study that focused on the determinants and consequences of overweight and obesity in rural Ghanaian farmer households. During her one-month stay at the Nutrition Research and Training Centre in Ghana, she carried out a qualitative study with the help of LinkINg Up project communities. The study highlighted the importance of considering context and local people鈥檚 perceptions when designing research methodology and thinking of solutions for nutritional problems. Learning from the LinkINg UP project, Meray understood how research can be transformative and life-changing when i) it takes into account the population鈥檚 economic and lifestyle priorities, and ii) it is designed in a way that is sustainable. Upon returning to Canada, Meray presented her research findings during 不良研究所's 2021 Global Health Week. Meray received her听 Master鈥檚 degree in February 2023 and is eager to work in the humanitarian sector and help improve the well-being of vulnerable groups.

Previous Interns

Bianca Matthews, Undergraduate Research Student

Bianca Matthews is an undergraduate student at 不良研究所 completing her 4th and final year in the BSc psychology program. She is a 不良研究所 2022 Global Health Summer Scholar supported by the John Locke Churchill Scholar award. In the summer of 2022,Bianca worked with Prof. Grace Marquis and Mona Ghadirian on assessing the nutrition literacy of adolescent girls in a rural district of Ghana. Her past research and extracurricular involvement has been focused on patient advocacy, crafting mental health resources for diverse populations, and maternal health. Her research interests lie in bridging the gap between mental, physical, and chronic illness trajectories, and uplifting marginalized perspectives in research.

Sadie Valente, Undergraduate Research Student

Sadie Valente is a 3rd-year undergraduate student at 不良研究所 who is currently pursuing a BA in International Development. She is a 不良研究所 2022 Global Health Summer Scholar supported by the John Locke Churchill Scholar award. This summer, she worked with Dr. Grace Marquis and doctoral candidate Mona Ghadirian on analyzing the acceptability and feasibility of a participatory video intervention targeting Ghanaian adolescent girls. She has previously been involved in the Chrysalis journal and Borderless World Volunteers. Her interests include women's health, sustainable development and health policy.

Bea Lehmann, BA, MSc Student, UBC School of Population and Public Health

Bea obtained her BA at 不良研究所 in Spring 2021, studying International Development and Health Geography. She is currently completing her MSc in Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. Bea was a 2020 Global Health Scholar, funded through the Leduc, Davis, Brun & DeRito Undergraduate Award for Global Health. She worked with Dr. Marquis and Mona Ghadirian on the project Evaluating a participatory video education model on nutrition literacy with adolescent girls in rural Ghana. She also presented research on the perceptions of anemia amongst adolescents in the Upper Manya Krobo region at the 2020 不良研究所 Global Health Night. Her research is now focused on how structural inequities, in particular housing, affect health service access and substance use.