Rollins PhD Student Earns National Recognition for Fortification Research

By Sarah Timbie 

Last month, the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) named Selin Sergin, doctoral candidate in Nutrition and Health Sciences, a finalist in their Emerging Leaders in Nutrition Science poster competition. This award is reserved for students and young researchers with the highest quality research projects in nutrition. 

Sergin received this honor for her research on milk fortification, in which vitamins and minerals are added to milk during processing to improve its nutritional content and quality. Food fortification is a powerful public health tool used to address potential vitamin or mineral deficiencies in populations. Many foods, like bread, wheat flour, cereals, and juices, usually contain an element of fortification. 

Sergin’s work is part of a systematic review project led by Helena Pachón, PhD, Rollins professor of global health, through the Food Fortification Initiative (FFI). The larger project seeks to summarize existing evidence around the impact of large-scale food fortification on diet, nutritional status, and functional outcomes. It focuses on food and combinations that do not currently have fortification guidelines from the World Health Organization, including fish sauce, maize flour, oil, sugar, and milk.  

“This project was my first opportunity to be involved in research on food fortification and was a great opportunity to get involved with the Food Fortification Initiative at Emory,” says Sergin. “It was instrumental in shaping my research interests in improving micronutrient nutrition with public health approaches like food fortification.” 

Sergin will go on to compete with other finalists at ASN’s annual meeting, NUTRITION 2025, in May, in front of nutrition professionals and students from around the globe.