Suzanne Gervais
Visiting Fellow
2009
HENutrSciWeb Bio Page
Current Activities
Current Professional Activities
Professional Society: American Society of Nutritional Sciences
Current Research Activities
Collaborative engaged research in the development and evaluation of domestic community nutrition education programs targeting children and parents together as family units.
Development and testing of evaluation instruments to monitor the progress and assess the impact of nutrition education programs.
Development of a research framework to facilitate the examination of nutrition outcomes that result from the integration of multisectoral activities including agriculture and nutrition activities in food security projects in developing countries.
Current Extension Activities
The Cooking Together for Family Meals is a pilot project initiatied and implemented by five counties in the Finger Lakes Region. It is developed through collaborative engaged research that brings nutrition staff from the counties to work together with faculty in the development and evaluation of their program. This program is designed to enhance family dynamics surrounding food related tasks, to improve family dietary practices and to prevent unhealthy weight gain in children by adressing family and individual behavioral and environmental factors.
Biography
Biographical Statement
Suzanne has followed a professional path combining academic and consultancy activities that focus on nutrition education and integrative food security interventions at the domestic and international levels.
Her first research interest lies in the integration of agriculture, health and nutrition in food security interventions in developing countries to enhance outcomes of interventions on child nutrition. Secondly, at the domestic level, she participates in collaborative engaged research to develop and evaluate community nutrition education programs.
Her past studies included a participatory action research in Burkina Faso engaging community leaders in the development of a local food security surveillance system leading to effective actions that reduced hunger and food insecurity at the household level. That study examined the determinants of action in decision-makers at the community and household levels.
Education
Ph. D. 2006 Cornell University, Human Nutrition
M.S. 1993 Université Laval (Canada), Nutrition
B.S. 1990 University of Ottawa (Canada), Biochemistry / Nutrition
Keywords
Food Security
Nutrition
Participatory Research
Evaluation
Qualitative research
Courses, Websites, Pubs
Courses Taught
NS6350 Introduction to Community Nutrition Research for Dietetic Interns
Selected Publications