Maternal and Childhood Nutrition Specialist
Position Description:
The specialist will be expected to develop an extension and research program related to
family and community environments that promote optimal nutrition in maternal and
pediatric populations. The candidate will provide leadership, support and assistance to
counties, ANR programs and community partners, and interact with agency staff and
policy-makers to promote maternal, family and child nutrition and health. The candidate
for this position will have disciplinary expertise in the areas of maternal and child
nutrition, and early childhood development. Minimal educational/professional
requirements include a PhD in nutrition, public health or related field. Desirable
qualifications include experience or training in nutritional epidemiology, cultural
competency, and experience working with young children. This position would be
housed within the UC Davis Department of Nutrition (100%).
Justification:
Substantial social and economic costs related to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other
nutrition-related chronic health problems continue to be projected for California’s future.
Research shows that these nutrition-related health problems can have their origins during
pregnancy and early postnatal period. According to California state data from 2010, 55%
of mothers are overweight or obese before pregnancy; 43% experience excessive prenatal
weight gains; and only 32% are breastfeeding exclusively at 3 months after delivery.
Exclusive breatfeeding for the first six months and continued breastfeeding throughout
the first year of life are recommended for optimal infant health, growth, and evelopment.
Maternal obesity and/or excessive prenatal weight gains are factors that increase health
risks of diabetes, childhood obesity, and other health problems. Thus, maternal obesity
and its metabolic state have significant implications for pregnancy outcomes and longterm maternal and child health. Since food preferences and patterns develop early in life,
nutrition and health promotion efforts must reach women of reproductive age, as well as
young children. There is an urgent need to help women achieve good nutritional status
before, during, and after pregnancy. Infancy and the first five years of life are other
critical periods to promote optimal nutrition and development first through
breastfeeding, followed by weaning and exposure to a wide variety of healthy foods.
External stakeholders from the California Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for
Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Branch and Association and the California
Department of Maternal and Child Health (MCH) have provided feedback on the need
for policy-relevant research and extension-led staff training/extension programs to
strengthen nutrition education and promotion during the perinatal and interconception
periods and the first five years of life. The UC Berkeley Center for Weight and Health
has focused on nutrition promotion in schools and other community settings, while the
proposed specialist position at UC Davis would help fill a gap in extension programming
and applied research targeting maternal and early childhood nutrition. A primary focus
would include promoting contexts that enable and support families and mothers to make
healthy food and lifestyle choices for themselves and their children, thus fostering good
maternal and infant health and normal child growth and developmental outcomes. This
position will be able to build on past and existing successful contributions of the UC
Davis faculty in developing the evidence base to inform policy and practice related to
optimal maternal and child nutrition and health. For example, a UC Davis Nutrition
faculty member has developed a program, delivered through WIC, to teach caregivers to
respond appropriately to infant behavioral cues, with demonstrated success in increasing
exclusive breastfeeding and reducing childhood obesity. ANR’s investment in this CE
position can have a significant impact on reducing both maternal and childhood obesity
and short- and long-term health care costs. This specialist will be a primary point of
contact for county advisors and programs supported by federal funding, such as EFNEP
and SNAP-Ed. Continued growth and success of UCCE’s culturally diverse nutrition
education programs for low-income families will be strengthened by this position with a
scope of activities which reflect the current realities and future trends in the field.
Extension:
The constituency to be served includes women of reproductive age throughout California
and their young children, with special emphasis on high-risk groups such as low-income
and underserved populations. California has one of the largest WIC programs in the
nation, serving more than 1.4 million low-income women, infants, and children each
month; 55% of California women participate in WIC during pregnancy. Nutrition
education is also provided to pregnant women through the Comprehensive Perinatal
Services, the Black Infant Health, and the Adolescent Family Life Programs.
Furthermore, California serves a large number of families through Early Head Start and
Head Start programs which deliver nutrition and health information to parents and young
children. All of these programs would be ideal and logical partners for extension, as well
as applied research, activities. External stakeholders have expressed great interest in staff
training programs (train-the-trainer) models through UCCE. This position would provide
opportunities for expansion of CE programs to offer prenatal and infant nutrition
education. This specialist will play a leadership role in the design and delivery of model
extension-led programs to promote healthy families and communities, with an emphasis
on sustained personal behavior and family environmental changes. Efforts will build on
traditional extension delivery and create new opportunities through distance education by
coordinating with telehealth programs offered through the UC Davis School of Medicine.
Research:
The candidate would be expected to carry out applied research in populations of women
of reproductive age, and young children on issues impacting maternal and child
nutritional health, development of nutritional choices, and prevention of childhood
obesity and chronic disease. Recently, the Institute of Medicine, at the request of USDA,
convened a panel to outline an urgent health research agenda related to nutrition needs
and services for low-income women, infants, and children in the US. This research
agenda provides a starting place for policy-relevant activities. Some specific areas of
inquiry include: 1) How can USDA food assistance and nutrition programs targeting
vulnerable families with young children be strengthened to be more effective in
promoting healthy behaviors that prevent childhood obesity and other health problems; 2)
How developmental influences of maternal behaviors, family, and community promote
healthy nutrition across infancy and early childhood; and 3) How novel nutrition
education programs targeting women of reproductive age promote adoption of healthy
behaviors.
ANR Continuum:
Several AES and non-AES scientists in the Nutrition Department have well-developed
research programs related to maternal and early childhood nutrition which will provide
productive collaborative opportunities. Active collaborations are expected with existing
nutrition specialists, and at the county level. Many UCCE Nutrition Advisors collaborate
in extension and research projects with WIC, Head Start and other local health providers
who reach the target audience. Additional collaborations would be expected with AES
faculty and CE specialists in the Department of Human Ecology, as well as through their
AES Center for Child and Family Studies to specifically link child development to early
nutrition behaviors and development of nutritional choices. This specialist would also be
envisioned to work collaboratively with a proposed Evaluation Specialist. Adding a
nutrition specialist to the team would directly bridge the current gap that exists between
these fields, thus allowing UCCE to create more dynamic approaches to address the
complex nature of maternal and child nutrition and health. At the Feb. 2012 meeting, the
Healthy Behaviors for Preventing Childhood Obesity program team agreed upon the need
for this position to support county programs. The ANR Youth, Families and
Communities Statewide Program supports this position. The benefits to the state of
California will be synergies in application of research knowledge, program delivery and
program effectiveness to address maternal and family nutrition in a comprehensive
manner. The natural extension will be improved health and well-being of the population.
Support:
The Nutrition department at UC Davis will provide basic support for the position, such as
office space in Meyer Hall, administrative support for business activities, Information
Technology support and cyber safety, Internet and telephone access.
Other support:
The candidate would be expected to obtain extramural grant funds through USDA and
private foundation grants such California Endowment, Kaiser Permanente, Robert Wood
Johnson, and others.
Location:
In addition to the strength of the Nutrition Department in maternal and infant nutrition,
UC Davis has a non-profit Human Lactation Center. This center has formed very strong
linkages with the California WIC program, develops leaders in lactation, and provides
cutting-edge research Other strong system-wide collaborative linkages exist between UC
Davis Nutrition faculty, UCLA, and the Maternal and Infant Health Center at UC San
Diego. Thus, there are key resources and existing collaborations through the UC Davis
campus and UC system that make it the ideal location to house the Maternal and
Childhood Nutrition Specialist. The proximity of the campus to the California WIC
Branch and the Departments of Maternal and Child Health and Education in Sacramento
and the California WIC Association office in Davis would be an advantage in
establishing collaborative arrangements with key external stakeholders.