Research Accelerators

Nutrition Research Accelerator

Tackling Nutrition-Related Chronic Disease in the U.S.

New policies targeting ultra-processed foods, changes to U.S. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and a pause in national nutrition data collection are reshaping the nutrition field. This accelerator tackles these changes head-on—uniting Rollins and partner investigators to drive solutions for a healthier, more equitable food system and improved population nutrition.

The Nutrition Research Accelerator aims to leverage nutrition expertise at Rollins and across Emory University to drive impactful science for improving food systems by:

Strengthening connections among researchers to tackle pressing nutrition challenges
Equipping teams with novel tools and insights to secure funding and launch innovative projects
Building a strong foundation for competitive grants that will position Emory and Rollins as leaders in public health nutrition research.

Funded Project

PIs: Elizabeth Rhodes, Karen Siegel, Cam Escoffery, and Azhar Nizam

Georgia Food4Moms is a produce prescription program that provides free or reduced-cost fruits and vegetables and nutrition education for pregnant women in the state.

This project develops a family-centered, culturally responsive virtual teaching kitchen that integrates seamlessly into Georgia Food4Moms, serves English- and Spanish speaking families, and can be scaled statewide. Teaching kitchens that combine nutrition education with hands-on cooking instruction have been shown to improve diet quality, nutrition knowledge, cooking confidence, and pregnancy outcomes such as healthy gestational weight gain and postpartum weight loss.

Project Aims:

Co-design a virtual teaching kitchen with Georgia Food4Moms.
Evaluate participant engagement, satisfaction, and preliminary effectiveness of integrating the virtual teaching kitchen into Georgia Food4Moms.
Identify strategies to support implementation of Georgia Food4Moms.