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Isabel ​Madzorera, ScD, MS

Assistant Professor, Food, Nutrition and Population Health
Isabel Madzorera is an Assistant Professor in Food, Nutrition and Population Health. Her research is in global nutrition and she conducts multi-faceted research that assists in understanding the determinants of poor maternal and child nutrition outcomes in low- and middle-income country settings (LMICs). Her research aims to address the global health problem of poor-quality diets among women, children and adolescents, and its relationship to the triple burden of malnutrition in LMICs. Specifically, her work focuses on elucidating the intersection of diet, nutritional status, food systems, and maternal and child health.
Available for advising
Address: 2121 Berkeley Way #6118
Berkeley, CA 94720

Biography

Dr. Isabel Madzorera is an assistant professor in Food, Nutrition and Population Health at the University of California, Berkeley, in the division of Community Health Sciences. Prior to joining UC Berkeley, Dr. Madzorera was a  Research Associate in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard School of Public Health. The goals of her research program are to utilize advanced nutrition epidemiologic methods to assess diet quality as a key modifiable risk factor for poor maternal and child health outcomes in LMICs, and to identify the role of food systems and other contributing factors to the triple burden of malnutrition in these contexts. Dr. Madzorera has led global health research focusing on the evaluation of food systems and diet quality, and their influence on maternal and child health.  Her previous research has included evaluating the role of maternal diet quality during pregnancy and its impacts on the risk of low birth weight, small for gestational age and preterm births and also assessing the effect of COVID-19 on food prices and diets.

Dr. Madzorera has extensive field-based experience including leading maternal and child nutrition interventions in sub-Saharan Africa. She has spent considerable time working in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique and conducted research in Tanzania and Ethiopia. Her previous work experience has included work with not-for-profit organizations such as Save the Children, United Nations agencies and the World Bank.

Prior to joining UC Berkeley, Dr. Madzorera obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Nutrition from the University of Zimbabwe, an MS in Food Policy and Applied Nutrition from Tufts University, and an ScD in Nutritional Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. She has also been a Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Associate in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Research Interests

  • Global nutrition and health
  • Diet quality in low resources settings, measurement and validation of assessment tools
  • Diet quality during pregnancy and its influence on poor pregnancy outcomes
  • Maternal and child nutrition and health
  • Food systems interventions to improve maternal and child nutrition
  • Dietary patterns and risk of chronic disease in resource-poor settings
  • Women’s empowerment

Education

  • ScD – Nutrition Epidemiology
    Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health
  • MS – Food Policy and Applied Nutrition
    Tufts University
  • BSc – Nutrition
    University of Zimbabwe

Publications

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