This project documents the unique paths of MCH leaders in academe, focused on five key questions. The hope of this project is to preserve these experience and the wisdom from the field that each expert brings and also to inspire a new generation of MCH academics.
Dr. Noel Chávez is an Associate Professor Emerita in the Community Health Sciences Division of the University of Illinois School of Public Health. Her research centers on the health and nutrition status of Latinos and other underrepresented groups, particularly that of children and families. Dr. Chávez’s research projects focus on Latino child health, including studying maternal environmental and dietary influences on subsequent development of asthma in children, dietary acculturation, family health and nutrition attitudes, and behaviors in Latinx families with young children.
Dr. Chávez has served as a proposal reviewer for the USDA NIFA Childhood Obesity Research panel, and is a member of the editorial boards for the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior and the Maternal and Child Health Journal. She served on an IOM Panel to Examine the adequacy of food resources and SNAP allotments. She is an active member of both the Food and Nutrition Section where she served as Section Chair, and the Latino Caucus of the American Public Health Association.
Click below to listen to Noel Chavez's story as she responds to five questions.