I elected to take a nutrition policy course while obtaining my Master's degree in preparation for my public health internship working at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics under the USDA Director of Policy and Legislation in Washington, DC.  The Food Policy Course used the social ecological model framework as a vehicle to explore many different factors that influence the way we eat including: obesity/BMI, food addiction, diet quality, justice/equality, menu labeling, food safety regulations, the Farm Bill, HHFKA, NSLP, litigation, food/farm workers and protective laws, the role of stakeholders, and much more.  One large, group project I completed was a legislative history timeline and stakeholder analyses for the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act (HHFKA).  Throughout the course we wrote an alternative policy memo on our topic of choice.  I chose to focus my memo on unhealthy food advertisements geared towards children.  My memo can be found above, with the 1-pager I created for presenting my alternative policy to the class.

         

I had much more experience in nutrition policy interning at the Academy's DC office with their Policy Initiative and Advocacy team.  Learn more about this experience from the button above, in addition to a passion project I created for myself while interning there called "Flavored Milk Analysis."  My research conclusion can be seen above which I used to write a stance paper for the Academy, which will be used by other large bipartisan organization, such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the American Heart Association.