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CUNY SPH is delighted to welcome Dr. Jennifer Cadenhead to our faculty as assistant professor in the Department of Environmental, Occupational, and Geospatial Health Sciences.
As a behavioral nutrition scientist, Dr. Cadenhead advances health equity through food policy. She uses qualitative and quantitative research methods to understand and identify healthy dietary patterns and beneficial policies to promote nutrition security and healthy longevity.
More specifically, Dr. Cadenhead’s research focuses on how diet patterns, particularly minimizing the consumption of ultra-processed foods, are associated with health promotion, with an interest in underserved populations. She also studies policies to promote nutrition security, school meal participation, and dietary behaviors that may mitigate chronic disease.
Prior to joining CUNY SPH, she collaborated with local to national stakeholders and contributed to initiatives addressing food insecurity and nutrition education. She served as executive director of the Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education and Policy, and was a research assistant professor at Columbia Teachers College. At Columbia, along with research on dietary patterns and health outcomes, she oversaw the facilitation of the Food Ed Coalition—a network of over 300 organizations—where she led efforts to improve nutrition literacy and healthy food choice within New York City. Additionally, she partnered with NYC Public Schools and the Mayor’s Office of Food Policy to promote food-related policies, including access to science-backed, culturally relevant nutrition education for children and their families.
Dr. Cadenhead holds a BS in mathematics and sociology from Duke University and advanced degrees in behavioral nutrition and nutritional epidemiology (MS, MPhil, PhD) from Columbia Teachers College, along with her RDN credentials. She gained experience in nutritional epidemiology through six years of research at Kaiser Permanente, focusing on breast cancer survivorship and mortality outcomes. During postdoctoral training at Teachers College, she specialized in studying food trauma in children, enhancing her expertise in nutrition policy and health outcomes.
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Cadenhead, who can be reached at Jennifer.Cadenhead@sph.cuny.edu.
