Board Members Attend International Health Congress
In its history that spans over half a century, ICN has grown from a small regional Congress to the most important International Nutrition Congress in the World attracting over 3000 delegates from almost 100 countries.
Dr. Pérez-Escamilla/Dr. Melgar-Quiñonez
Bangkok (October 9, 2009) Dr. Rafael Pérez-Escamilla of Yale University and Dr. Hugo Melgar-Quiñonez of Ohio State University, board members of the ¡Salud, familia! Program, participated in the 19th International Congress of Nutrition held in Bangkok, Thailand, October 4-9, 2009.
The main theme of the Congress was “Nutrition Security for All.” According to committee organizers, “The 19th International Congress of Nutrition seeks to provide innovative solutions to the present and future challenges of securing the need for safe and adequate food supply, delivery of basic nutrition and health services, thereby improving the quality of life of peoples and communities around the world.” Over 300 internationally renowned speakers from all continents shared their experiences and discussed future challenges that stem from basic research to policy and program applications.
Assistant professor and extension state specialist in the Department of Human Nutrition at Ohio State University, Dr. Melgar-Quiñonez’s research focuses on food insecurity and nutrition. During the last ten years, he has been working on food insecurity research with Latino immigrants and setting up the basis for subsequent studies in rural communities in several Latin American countries. His work has lead to further validation studies on adapted household food security instruments in a wide range of countries (Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Ecuador, Ghana, and Guatemala, among others).
Dr. Pérez-Escamilla, professor of epidemiology and public health, and director of the Office of Community Health at Yale School of Public Health, is currently leading or co-leading four nutrition capacity building and translational research programs in Connecticut, Ghana, and Brazil in the fields of nutrition-related health disparities, breastfeeding, HIV, and household food security. In addition, he is currently serving on the USDA/DHHS 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, while serving on other national and international health organizations that focus on reducing health disparities among Latino populations.
