Food, Nutrition and Population Health: A new name for UC Berkeley’s public health nutrition program

After a year of strategic planning, UC Berkeley School of Public Health is pleased to announce that the Public Health Nutrition residential and online MPH programs has a new name: Food, Nutrition and Population Health. This change will be official on July 1, 2024.

UC Berkeley’s Public Health Nutrition Program was founded in 1953 by Ruth Lois Huenemann with a focus on applied nutrition, child obesity, and social disparities in nutrition and obesity. Since that time, the program has graduated over 800 leaders who work in state or local government, nonprofit health agencies, and other organizations that deal with health and nutrition policy and programs. The program enrolls up to 17 students per year.

In 2022, UC Berkeley School of Public Health launched an Online MPH Public Health Nutrition program concentration for mid-career public health professionals. In 2024, the school launched a new public health Dietetic Internship model that aims to grow public health nutrition leaders rooted in cultural humility.

The name change better reflects the program’s content, course offerings, and faculty research. “While the focus remains on public health nutrition, with students receiving training as public health nutritionists, the name change captures the program’s intersection of nutrition within a global food system and the focus on population health on this small planet,” said Dr. Barbaba Laraia, who chairs the program.