After a year of strategic planning, the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health is pleased to announce the new name of its Public Health Nutrition residential and online MPH programs to “Food, Nutrition, and Population Health.” The change will officially take effect on July 1, 2024.
The Public Health Nutrition Program at UC Berkeley was founded in 1953 by Ruth Lois Huenemann with a focus on applied nutrition, childhood obesity, and social disparities in nutrition and obesity. Since then, the program has produced more than 800 leaders who work in state and local governments, nonprofit health organizations, and other organizations working with health and nutrition policy and programs. The program enrolls up to 17 students each year.
In 2022, the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health will launch an online MPH public health nutrition program concentration for mid-career public health professionals. In 2024, we will launch a new public health nutritionist internship model aimed at developing public health nutrition leaders rooted in cultural humility.
The name change better reflects the program’s content, course offerings and faculty research. “While our focus on public health nutrition trains students as public health nutritionists, the name change captures the intersection of the program’s focus on nutrition in global food systems and population health on this small planet,” said Dr. Barbaba Laraia, program chair.
