Speakers in Workshops

Lisa M. Powell, Ph.D. is Distinguished Professor and Director in the Division of Health Policy and Administration in the School of Public Health and Director of the Illinois Prevention Research Center in the Institute for Health Research and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Dr. Powell has extensive experience as an applied micro-economist in the empirical analysis of the effects of public policy on a series of behavioral outcomes.

Much of her current research is on assessing the importance of economic and environmental factors (such as food prices, sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes; access to food stores, fast-food restaurants, other eating places, and facilities for physical activity; and, television food advertising exposure) on food consumption and physical activity behaviors and as determinants of obesity, including related disparities. Her work has contributed to the policy debates on SSB taxes and child-directed marketing in the U.S.

Julie S. Downs, Ph.D., is Director of the Center for Risk Perception and Communication, and Associate Professor in the department of Social and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Downs received her Ph.D. in social psychology from Princeton University, and her B.A. from University of California, Berkeley. Her research has been published in psychological, public policy, economic, engineering, and medical journals.

Dr. Kaisa Kotakorpi is Professor of Economics at the University of Turku, Finland. She also holds a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford and has spent one academic year as Marie Curie Fellow at the London School of Economics (2004-5). Her main research interests are in public economics, in particular the applications of behavioural economics to tax policy, political economy and health economics. Her work has been published in journals such as Journal of Public Economics, European Economic Review and Scandinavian Journal of Economics. She is a member of the Finnish Economic Policy Council and Fellow at the CESifo research network.

Dr. Evelyn Crayton, Professor emeritus at Auborn University, Past President, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Her area of specialty is Nutrition Education for the public. She is a frequently requested speaker on topics related to nutrition and health literacy. During her 40 year tenure, she developed many Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program publications (EFNEP), several curricula and training programs for this community-based self-help program.

She served as Chair of the Nutrition Education for the Public and is a member of the Hunger and Environmental Nutrition Dietetics Practice Groups. She is a member of the National Organization of Blacks in Dietetics and Nutrition and is a Past President of the Alabama Dietetic Association and the Tuskegee District Dietetics Association.

Dr. Leps Malete is Associate Professor of sport and exercise psychology at Michigan State University. Until recently, he was Associate Professor and Director of International Education and Partnerships at the University of Botswana. His teaching and research interests are on international dimensions of youth psychosocial development through sport and physical activity, self-efficacy and athletic performance as well as physical activity, nutrition and childhood obesity.

Rodolfo M. Nayga, Jr. is Professor and Tyson Endowed Chair in Food Policy Economics in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness at University of Arkansas. Dr. Nayga’s research interests include the economics of food consumption, policy, and health. He has focused his work on critical issues such as poverty, nutrition, obesity, and novel food technologies. Prior to joining the University of Arkansas, he was a professor at Texas A&M University for 12 years.

Susanne Bryngelsson, is the managing director of Swedish Nutrition Foundation (SNF). She has a background in food science and nutrition and a PhD in food science from Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala (2002). She has been working actively within the field of health claims since 2003, with experiences from the unique Swedish Code of conduct on health claims (1990-2007). She is editor in-chief of the journal Nordisk Nutrition and the webb portal nutritionsfakta.se, published by SNF.

Cecilia Mandrup, Campaign Consultant,The Danish Whole Grain Partnership, Cecilia has worked with advertising, execution of campaigns as well as research and pre-testing of campaigns. Her research fields include motivation, reasoning, cognitive biases and decision-making, specifically in a context of commercial communication. As a campaign consultant at The Danish Whole Grain Partnership she is responsible for digital communication and head of a stakeholder group.

Dr Kristiina Janhonen (nee Kainulainen),is a postdoctoral researcher working at the University of Helsinki, Department of Teacher Education. She received her Doctorate in Education in 2016 from the University of Helsinki. Her interdisciplinary research interests include adolescents’ food-related learning at the intersection of informal and institutional contexts; understanding young people’s food practices through qualitative and quantitative methods; development of participatory research; and school meals.

Dr Hanna Sepp is a senior lecturer in Food and Meal science at Kristianstad University, Sweden. She has a background in Food and Nutrition (PhD in Domestic Sciences from Uppsala University 2002). Her research interest focuses on meal education in the preschool and the integration of food and meals in the pedagogic activities. By developing educational games and teaching materials with the aim of creating good food habits for young children, she has conveyed research into innovation.

Dr Sidiga Washi, Chair, World Public Health Nutrition Association

Dr Iveta Pudule, Senior Public Health Analyst, Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Latvia is a medical doctor who has gained an MSc in Health Promotion from the University of Bergen in Norway. She has extensive experience in epidemiology and public health research.

Dr Pudele is currently Senior Public Health Analyst at the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in Latvia. She is currently a member of the board of the Public Health Association of Latvia where she brings together major stakeholders to collaborate on work in nutrition; this is of particular interest to her as she is a member of National Nutrition Board and also a member of National Food Council. Iveta is also a principal investigator for WHO Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) and Health Behaviour Survey of School Aged Children (HBSC) in Latvia

Dr Signild Vallgårda is a historian and professor of health policy analysis, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen. Her current research focuses on power and ethical perspectives of obesity policies and the role of social categories in policies related to and research on social inequalities in health.

Dr. Garrath D. Williams, is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Lancaster University. Dr. Williams research interests fall across ethics, political theory and applied ethics. One of his main interests, in all three of these areas, is responsibility – both conceptually and in terms of its practical and organisational aspects. In applied ethics, Dr. William is involved in collaborative research on children, health and public policy. He leads the ethics and policy strand of the EU-funded I.Family study (www.ifamilystudy.eu), which investigates diet and health-related behaviours in a large cohort of families across Europe. Garrath D. Williams is also co-author of Childhood Obesity: Ethical and Policy Issues (with Kristin Voigt and Stuart Nicholls; Oxford University Press, 2014).

Louise Ungerth, is an agriculture engineer and Head of Consumer & Environmental Affairs at The Stockholm Consumer Cooperative Society (SCCS), a cooperative member organization. One aim is to influence government, authorities, politicians, Co-op and the private sector on various retail-related consumer and environmental issues on behalf of 760 000 members in the Stockholm area. Louise is member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry and participates in many working groups for universities, authorities, organisations and industries.

Dr Lucia Reisch is professor for consumer behaviour and consumer policy at Copenhagen Business School. As a behavioural economist and consumer researcher, her main research focus is on sustainable consumption, consumer and sustainability policy, behavioural regulation and corporate sustainability. Besides running several EU-research projects, she is engaged in high-level policy consulting. For instance, she is chairing the Council of Advisors on Consumer Issues (Sachverständigenrat Verbraucherfragen), long-standing member of the German Council of Sustainable Development and the Bioeconomy Council, all consulting the German government.

Dr. Frank Bloomfield is Director of the Liggins Institute at the University of Auckland and Professor of Neonatology. He trained in Manchester, Auckland and Toronto in both clinical neonatology and experimental science investigating the role of maternal, fetal and neonatal nutrition on growth and development. Frank is the immediate past president of the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand and a council member of the Perinatal Research Society (USA). He serves on several Ministry of Health committees, including the National Maternity Monitoring Group.

Dr Loretta Warnakulasuriya is a medical doctor from Negombo, Sri Lanka where she works at the District Hospital of Negombo and runs her own medical clinic. During her spare time she is a dedicated member of Lions Club Negombo. Dr Loretta is the Principal Investigator and project coordinator for Lions project for obesity among 14 000 school children in Negombo (managed by Lions MD 101 Sweden and funded by Världens Barn, Sweden). This project is carried out in collaboration of Prof Pujitha Wickramasinghe, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, and University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Empowering Towards Healthy Behaviours

Dr Pilvikki Absetz, Research Director (University of Eastern Finland, UEF), Adjunct Professor of Health Promotion (University of Tampere, UTA), CEO (Collaborative Care Systems Finland, CCSF)). Pilvikki is a behavioral scientist with a PhD in psychology (health), and a leading expert in disease prevention and health promotion by lifestyle change. As a PI/CI/AI of several behavioral interventions, she has over 15 years of experience in disseminating and implementing evidence into practice in different “real world” settings in Finland as well as internationally. Her research covers type 2 diabetes prevention, self-management of NCD’s, and promotion of healthy lifestyle among both young and elderly people in Finland, Australia, India, South Africa, Sweden, and Uganda.

Michael Quarshie, CEO and Co-Founder (Wellness Foundry). Mr Quarshie has spearheaded several collaborations that have integrated mobile technology and nutrition with clients ranging from insurance carriers and health care providers to research universities and professional sports organizations. One of his main areas of focus over the past 5 years has been on developing scalable intervention models that combine mobile technology with professional coaching in one-on-one and group settings. Before co-founding Wellness Foundry, Michael was a professional athlete with the Oakland Raiders in the NFL. He holds a B.A. from Columbia University.