Position Title: Nutrition Education and Behavior Specialist
Position: The Nutrition Education & Behavior Specialist requires a PhD in nutrition or related field. The
candidate will provide leadership in evidence-based nutrition education, communications, translational
and applied research and theory-driven behavior change interventions to prevent obesity and optimize
nutrition and health, particularly related to programs that serve young children, youth and their families.
Desirable qualifications include experience or training in nutrition education methods, epidemiology,
cultural competency, community engagement and experience working with maternal/child populations
in community-based settings. This position will be housed in the UC Davis Nutrition Department.
Justification: In the state of California, 60% of adults and 33% of children are overweight or obese.
Substantial social and economic costs ($41 billion) related to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other
nutrition-related chronic health problems continue to be projected for California’s future. These issues
affect all Californians, but are particularly evident in ethnically-diverse, low-income, underserved
groups. Research shows that these nutrition-related health problems have their origins early in life.
Therefore, targets for interventions to promote health and ameliorate health care costs include:
1) Reduce maternal obesity: Interventions that target women of reproductive age to reduce maternal
obesity and/or prevent excessive prenatal weight gains can lower risk of type 2 diabetes,
childhood obesity, and other nutrition-related health problems.
2) Improve food patterns of children: Food preferences and patterns develop early in life, and thus,
nutrition interventions must reach caregivers of infants and young children.
3) Promote nutrition in school-aged children and youth: School-based interventions, especially
those that address the school environment, can promote healthy eating, active lifestyles and
increase nutrition and agricultural literacy in youth and their families.
4) Equip consumers to make informed decisions regarding foods, nutrition and lifestyle choices.
The issues and opportunities for effective interventions are extensive. Greater capacity is needed to
comprehensively address these issues across the state and communicate with external stakeholders. The
specialist position at UC Davis would complement the Director of the new Nutrition Policy Institute by
providing strong expertise in community-based intervention research, and health communications
related to nutrition by strengthening the broad UCCE collaborative network. ANR’s investment in this
CE position can have a significant impact on improving the health of Californians.
Extension: This Specialist will play a leadership role in the design and delivery and evaluation of model
extension programs to support the statewide Youth, Families and Communities program within UC’s
ANR, with an emphasis on sustained personal behavior and family environmental changes. Efforts will
build on traditional extension delivery and new opportunities such as distance education and telehealth.
Working within a social ecological framework and with consideration of tenets of behavioral economics,
the specialist will engage in applied/creative activities and extend knowledge related to promoting
contexts that enable and support families to make healthy food and lifestyle choices for themselves and
their children. The constituency includes children, youth and their families throughout California.
Research: The Specialist will develop a research program focused on applied community-based
interventions and approaches to provide solutions for food-related health challenges that affect the
people of California, with emphasis on children and families in high-risk groups such as low-income,
ethnically-diverse, and other underserved populations. The position will foster effective collaborations
and sustained impact to California’s population through multiple channels and education models. The
Specialist will be expected to collaborate with campus and county based academics, industry, schools,
and state and county agencies to deliver tested successful nutrition education programs. Key research
questions for the Specialist to pursue can include: what are the most effective strategies and model
programs for prevention of obesity and chronic diseases related to poor food choices and inactivity; how
to equip consumers with the tools to make informed decisions about food choices, nutrition, food safety,
and food handling; how can nutrition education incorporate technological advances related to
personalized health to provide individuals with evidence-based and understandable feedback on the
consequences of their dietary actions. The specialist will publish in peer-reviewed journals and present
at scholarly meetings. This research is expected to impact policy that affects nutrition and health of
children and families, especially as it relates to USDA food assistance and nutrition programs.
ANR Network: The Specialist will benefit from AES scientists in the Nutrition Department who have
well-developed research programs related to maternal and child nutrition which will provide productive
collaborative opportunities. County nutrition advisors have expressed support for adding a Nutrition
Specialist with a community perspective who will bridge campus and county faculty interests, drawing
on cross-disciplinary expertise from multiple departments/schools and programs. For example, AES
faculty and CE specialists in Department of Human Ecology and the AES Center for Child and Family
Studies are engaged in work that links child development to early nutrition behaviors. EFNEP and UC
CalFresh programs are expected to be partners and strengthen their nutrition education programs, based
on this work. Additional linkages include UC Davis Center for Poverty Research; Chicano(a) Studies;
School of Education; UC Health Systems (Medical, Nursing and Public Health Sciences); and the UC
Davis non-profit Human Lactation Center which has a strong collaboration with WIC. The Specialist
will actively develop collaborative linkages with UC campuses system-wide, such as those that exist
between UC Davis Nutrition faculty, UCLA, and the Maternal and Infant Health Center at UCSD.
Adding a nutrition education specialist to the UCCE team will allow creation of dynamic approaches to
expand UCCE’s reach to address the complex nature of child and family nutrition, obesity and the
translation of health-promoting science-based nutrition information for the public.
Network External to ANR: Stakeholders in WIC; Head Start; CA Dept of Education; CA Department
of Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health ; and CA Dept of Public Health have expressed interest and
support for a nutrition specialist with a strong background in nutrition science, a community perspective,
and ability to implement evidence-based strategies.
Support: The Nutrition Department enthusiastically supports this position and will provide office space
in Meyer Hall, administrative support for business activities, IT, cyber safety, Internet and phone access.
Other support: The Specialist will be expected to obtain extramural grant funds through USDA, private
foundation grants such California Endowment, Kaiser Permanente, Robert Wood Johnson, and others.
Location: The Specialist will be housed in the UC Davis Nutrition Department. This will facilitate
collaborative relationships among the faculty and campus colleagues, and importantly allow the
Specialist to be affiliated with the Graduate Group in Nutritional Biology. This provides access to
graduate students interested in applied research, nutrition education and innovative strategies for
communicating evidence-based based nutrition research findings to the public.
Developed and supported by: The Department of Nutrition developed this position description, and it
is supported by the ANR Youth, Families and Communities Statewide Program, UC CalFresh, and the
Healthy Behaviors for Preventing Childhood Obesity program team, as well as external stakeholders.