Rafael Perez-Escamilla

Rafael Pérez-Escamilla Costas is a Mexican-American public health nutritionist. He is a Full professor in the division of Chronic Disease Epidemiology and director of the Office of Public Health Practice, the Global Health Concentration, and the Maternal Child Health Promotion program at Yale School of Public Health.

Rafael Perez-Escamilla
Born
Mexico
Academic background
EducationBS, chemical engineering, 1982, Universidad Iberoamericana
MS, 1985, PhD, 1991, University of California, Davis
ThesisEffect of the maternity ward system on the lactation success of low-income urban Mexican women (1991)
Academic work
InstitutionsYale School of Public Health
University of Connecticut

During his tenure at UConn and Yale, Pérez-Escamilla has served as a scientific expert advisor for the World Health Organization, UNICEF FAO, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Early life and education

Pérez-Escamilla completed his Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the Universidad Iberoamericana and his master's degree and PhD from the University of California, Davis.[1]

Career

Following his PhD, Pérez-Escamilla became an assistant professor of nutritional sciences and public health at the University of Connecticut (UConn).[2] During his short tenure there, Pérez-Escamilla founded the Connecticut Center for Eliminating Health Disparities among Latinos.[3] In 2008, he was appointed to the national 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee by then-United States Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer and United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt.[4]

Pérez-Escamilla eventually left UConn to become a professor in the division of Chronic Disease Epidemiology and director of the Office of Community Health at the Yale School of Public Health.[5] While serving in this role, he co-published the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) "Latin American and Caribbean Household Food Security Scale" manual.[6] In 2016, Pérez-Escamilla addressed the Brazilian Senate on the topic of "Food Insecurity, Human Development, and Planetary Health."[7]

During his tenure at UConn and Yale, Pérez-Escamilla has served as a scientific expert advisor for the World Health Organization, UNICEF FAO, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As a result of his global impact for having developed, led, and implemented pioneering programs in public health nutrition, Pérez-Escamilla was elected a Member of the National Academy of Medicine.[8] The following year, he was also inducted into the Connecticut Academy of Science for "being a world authority on community-based maternal, infant, and young child feeding programs and assessment of food security, and international recognition for his research on breastfeeding peer counseling programs."[1]

References

  1. "RAFAEL PEREZ-ESCAMILLA". CASE Annual Meeting Registration. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  2. "Grant to Fund Latino Health Research". Hartford Courant. October 26, 2005. Retrieved June 24, 2021 via newspapers.com.
  3. Pérez-Escamilla, Rafael; Damio, Grace; De Jesús, Jeannette; Bow, Laurine; Chhabra, Jyoti; Bull, Nancy H. (2008). "The Connecticut Center of Excellence for Eliminating Health Disparities among Latinos (CEHDL)". Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement. 12 (3): 167–178. PMC 2911035. PMID 20671805.
  4. "UConn Professor Named To Committee". Hartford Courant. November 18, 2008. Retrieved June 24, 2021 via newspapers.com.
  5. Meyer, Denise (April 26, 2011). "YSPH Professor Calls for Action Against Household Food Insecurity". Yale University. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  6. "YSPH Professor Publishes Manual on Latin American and Caribbean Household Food Security". Yale University. October 22, 2012. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  7. "Epidemiologist Rafael Pérez-Escamilla addresses Brazilian Senate on food security". Yale University. December 15, 2016. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  8. "YSPH Professor Elected to National Academy of Medicine". Yale University. October 21, 2019. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
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