Who We Are

About

Research, policy analysis, advocacy, and education.

These are the means by which we change the structures, institutional practices, and environments that limit access to healthy affordable food and often make unhealthy food choices easier than healthy ones.

Using evidence provided by our research, we advocate for policy change to address food-related health disparities. Examples are policies to prevent diabetes and obesity in communities of color, improve school food, and reduce predatory marketing of unhealthy food.

Staff

Fellows

  • Maggie Dickinson

    Associate Professor of Urban Studies at Queens College

  • Karen Florez

    Assistant Professor, Environmental, Occupational, and Geospatial Health Sciences, CUNY SPH

    Deputy Director, Center for Systems and Community Design, CUNY SPH

  • Ann Gaba

    Assistant Professor, Environmental, Occupational, and Geospatial Health Sciences, CUNY SPH

    Director, Nutrition and Dietetic Internship, CUNY SPH

  • Alyshia Galvez

    Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies, Lehman College

    Professor of anthropology, CUNY Graduate Center

  • Margrethe Horlyck-Romanovsky

    Assistant Professor, Health and Nutrition Sciences, Brooklyn College

  • Holly Isenberg

    PhD Student, CUNY SPH

  • Andrew Maroko

    Associate Professor, Director, Geospatial Health Research Lab, Institute for Health Equity Research, Department of Population Health Science & Policy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 

  • Ruth Milkman

    Chair of Labor Studies Department, Distinguished Professor of Sociology (joint appointment), CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies and CUNY Graduate Center

  • Yvette Ng

    PhD Student, CUNY SPH

  • Christopher Palmedo

    Clinical Professor, Community Health and Social Sciences, CUNY SPH

  • Ivonne Quiroz

    PhD student, CUNY SPH Health

  • Ghada Soliman

    Associate Professor, Environmental, Occupational, and Geospatial Health Sciences, CUNY SPH

  • Emilia Vignola

    PhD Candidate, CUNY SPH

  • Huy T. Vo

    Assistant Professor, Computer Science, City College

  • Juviza Rodriguez

    PhD Student, CUNY SPH

  • Mark DAlessandro

    Associate Professor, Culinary Arts Program Director, Kingsborough Community College

     

     

  • Nicolle Fernandes

    Professor, Director, Nutrition and Culinary Management Program, Health Sciences Department, LaGuardia Community College (CUNY)

  • J. Robin Moon

    DPH, MPH, MIA, Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy & Management, CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy

    Adjunct Professor, Department of Community Health & Social Medicine, CUNY School of Medicine

    Affiliate Faculty,  CUNY Institute for Health Equity

    Health Innovators Fellow, Aspen Institute, Aspen Global Leadership Network

Partners

The institute is supported by CUNY SPH and the generous funders listed below. We are also proud to partner with government leaders, community and labor organizations, businesses, and peer academic institutions who acknowledge food as a multi-dimensional public health issue.

Funders

  • Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
  • ASPCA
  • Fund for Public Health in NY
  • Fund for Public Housing
  • Hope Enterprises
  • Jewish Foundation for Education of Women
  • Johnson Family Fund
  • L&M Development / La Fontaine
  • Levitt Foundation
  • Local Initiatives Support Corporation-New York City (LICS-NYC)
  • Manhattan Borough President
  • National Science Foundation
  • New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
  • New York City Mayor’s Office
  • New York Community Trust
  • New York State Health Foundation
  • North Star Fund
  • Novo Foundation
  • Petrie Foundation
  • Robin Hood Foundation
  • Sociological Initiatives Foundation
  • Spencer Foundation
  • The Belmont Forum
  • The Reinvestment Fund
  • Tisch Illumination Fund
  • United Neighborhood Houses
  • United States Department of Agriculture
  • William T. Grant Foundation

Collaborators

  • 32BJ /Service Employees International Union
  • Adam Mickiewicz University
  • Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (Restoration)
  • Brooklyn Community Services
  • Brotherhood Sister Sol
  • Center for Good Food Purchasing
  • Center for Immigrant Health
  • Center for Science in the Public Interest
  • City Harvest
  • Colleagues at the University of Kent
  • Community Food Advocates
  • CUNY and SUNY faculty, students, and staff
  • East End Food Institute
  • East New York Farms
  • Enterprise Community Partners
  • Equity Advocates
  • Farm School NYC
  • Farragut Food Club
  • Food Chain Workers Alliance
  • Green City Force
  • GrowNYC
  • Harlem Grown
  • Hope Center for College, Community and Justice at Temple University
  • HOPE Enterprises
  • Hudson Valley food systems coalition
  • Hunger Free America
  • Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center
  • ILS Research Institute for Regional and Urban Development
  • Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
  • Karen Karp & Partners
  • La Finca del Sur
  • Local Initiatives Support Corporation-New York City (LISC-NYC)
  • Make the Road New York
  • Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City
  • Mayor’s Office of Food Policy
  • New York City Community Garden Coalition
  • New York City Housing Authority
  • New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie
  • Red Hook Farms
  • Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union
  • Swipeout Hunger
  • Tisch Food Center
  • United Food and Commercial Workers
  • United Neighborhood Houses
  • United Settlement Houses
  • University Gustave Eiffel-IRSTV
  • University of Michigan
  • West Side Campaign Against Hunger
  • YMCA of Queens
  • Young Invincibles