COHORTS
| Philippines | India | South Africa | Brazil |
Researchers affiliated with the COHORTS Team are from the Philippines, India, South Africa, and Brazil.
COHORTS Philippines
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Linda Adair | linda_adair@unc.edu Linda Adair (PhD in Biological Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania 1980), is currently Professor of Nutrition at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she directs the Nutrition Epidemiology Division; and is a Fellow at the Carolina Population Center. Her main interests are in maternal and child nutrition, in particular, the determinants and consequences of infant and early childhood growth patterns, the determinants of obesity in childhood and adolescence, and the developmental origins of chronic disease risk. Her methodological focus is on the design and implementation of population-based health/demographic/nutrition surveys and the application of longitudinal epidemiologic and structural models to health outcome research. She has been the Principal Investigator for the Cebu (Philippines) Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey since 1991, and is part of the COHORTS (Consortium for Health Orientated Research in Transitional Societies) research team which unites studies from Brazil, India, Guatemala, South Africa and the Philippines. She is also involved with maternal and child health-related research projects in China, South Africa, Rwanda, and Malawi, and has more than 200 peer-reviewed publications in biomedical journals. |
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Judith Rafaelita B. Borja | judithborja@gmail.com Dr. Judith Rafaelita B. Borja is a Senior Research Associate and currently the Director of the USC-Office of Population Studies Foundation, Inc. (OPS), University of San Carlos in Cebu City, Philippines. She has a Masters degree in Applied Nutrition from the University of the Philippines at Los Baños. In 1998 she obtained her PhD in Nutrition from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health where she is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Nutrition. As one of the survey specialists at OPS, she has directed large scale studies such as the Early Childhood Development Evaluation Survey, the Third Elementary Education Program Impact Evaluation Survey, and the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (CLHNS). She is currently the lead OPS investigator for CLHNS. Her research expertise spans health and nutrition issues throughout the life course: from pregnancy, infancy to aging. She has represented OPS in experts’ consultation panels for infants and young children in the Southeast Asian region, and has authored and contributed to publications on adolescent pregnancy, birth weight, infant feeding and growth, and the influence of early nutrition on later health outcomes. |
COHORTS India
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Santosh K. Bhargava | drskbhargava@yahoo.com Professor Santosh K. Bhargava is a former National President of Indian Academy of Pediatrics; Founder President National Neonatology Forum, India; Professor and Head, Department of Pediatrics, University College of Medical Sciences and Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi; Editor, Indian Pediatrics; Vice President, National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development, New Delhi. He has been and remains a member of several prestigious advisory, child health committees including National Children Board, World Health Organization; Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; Department of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Human Resources; Planning Commission, Government of India; Indian Council of Medical Research, Indian Academy of Pediatrics and National Neonatology Forum, India. |
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Harshpal Singh Sachdev Prof. Harshpal Singh Sachdev (MD, FIAP, FAMS, FRCPCH) is Senior Consultant in Pediatrics and Clinical Epidemiology at Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research, New Delhi; Adjunct Professor, St. John’s Research Institute, Bangalore; and Visiting Professor, MRC Epidemiology Resource Centre, Southampton. He has served as Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Maulana Azad Medical College; National President, Indian Academy of Pediatrics; Secretary, Nutrition Society of India; Regional Advisor, Asian Pacific Pediatric Association; and Editor-in-Chief of Indian Pediatrics. He has over 225 indexed publications and has edited fifteen books and six reports. He has been honored with Fellowships from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (London), National Academy of Medical Sciences and Indian Academy of Pediatrics. Prof. Sachdev is a National Research Awards recipient including from the Indian Council of Medical Research. He has provided services as Advisory Committee Member, Food and Nutrition Board, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India; Chairperson and Expert Group Member of Indian Council of Medical Research, Department of Biotechnology and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India; and as a consultant to several international and national agencies including WHO, UNICEF, World Bank, Bill and Mellinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, International Food Policy Research Institute, and USAID. His current research interests include developmental origins of adult disease, nutrition in children and mothers in Low and Middle Income Countries, and systematic reviews to guide policy and practice. |
COHORTS South Africa
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Chris Desmond | desmondchris@yahoo.com Chris Desmond (PhD, LSE, 2008) is a senior researcher at the Development Pathways to Health Research Unit, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, and a chief research specialist at the HIV and AIDS, TB and STI research program at the Human Science Research Council. He is an economist focusing on children affected by HIV and AIDS, early childhood development and economic evaluation. Chris leads the DPHRU component of the GCC project. Prior to moving to DPHRU, Dr Desmond was a research associate at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University and prior to that a senior research associate at the Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division, University of KwaZulu-Natal. |
COHORTS Brazil
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Denise P. Gigante | denisepgigante@gmail.com Denise P Gigante (Ph.D. in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas 2000) is Associate Professor in the Nutrition Department from the Federal University of Pelotas, acting on Postgraduate Programs in Epidemiology and in Nutrition. Fellow researcher from National Research Council Scientific. She was coordinator from Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology and currently coordinates Research and Postgraduate Programs at Federal University of Pelotas. Her research is in epidemiology, nutrition on life cycle, cohort studies, risk factors, obesity, maternal health, socioeconomic factors, public health and development and origins of health and disease. She has published over 120 professional articles. |
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Bernardo Lessa Horta | blhorta@gmail.com Bernardo Lessa Horta (Ph.D. in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, 2001) is Associate Professor of the Post-Graduate Program in Epidemiology at Universidade Federal de Pelotas. His research is on the developmental origin of health of disease, pediatric epidemiology, intergenerational relations and evidence based public health. He has published over 170 articles in peer-reviewed journals (primarily in public health, medical and nutritional journals) and 5 books. He has a h-index of 23. He has been a research consultant with World Health Organization and Pan American Health Organization. He is a Research (Level 1A) – Brazilian Research Council. |