What would it look like for us to equitably nourish a growing global population? More importantly, how do we get there – which inputs have more leverage within complex systems, and what evidence do decision-makers need in order to support public health? Dr. Marie Spiker approaches public health nutrition research through a food systems lens that recognizes the need for transdisciplinary and multisectoral collaboration.
Dr. Spiker’s research interests include public health nutrition, sustainable food systems, food loss and waste, value chains for nutrition, systems modeling of food supply chains, and capacity building within nutrition and public health. To explore these topics, she draws from training in quantitative and qualitative methods and systems science, as well as her training as a registered dietitian nutritionist. Her professional practice experience includes work with municipal food policy and capacity building within the profession of nutrition and dietetics.
Daiki Hiramori is currently an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Global and Interdisciplinary Studies at Hosei University in Tokyo, Japan. His research interests include quantitative sociology, queer and feminist studies, sexuality and gender stratification, and the demography of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). He graduated from the International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan, with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and a minor in Mathematics in 2014. He also earned an MA in Sociology in 2016, a Graduate Certificate in Feminist Studies in 2018, and a PhD in Sociology in 2022, all from the University of Washington.
He uses quantitative methods to study stratification and inequality based on sexuality and gender as well as sexual and gender minority populations from a queer and feminist perspective. In particular, he is interested in socioeconomic inequality based on SOGI, the measurement of SOGI on surveys, and queer and feminist methodologies. In his dissertation “Sexuality Stratification in Contemporary Japan: A Study in Sociology,” he used the Osaka City Residents’ Survey, one of the few population-based surveys that ask about sexual orientation in Japan, to explore the association between sexual orientation and educational attainment, occupational segregation, and earnings disparities in Japan. His publications have appeared in the
Journal of Population Problems and
Gender and Sexuality. Through his research and educational activities, he is committed to using his privilege as a social scientist to focus on the ways in which systemically marginalized populations, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people, become free in a system that operates to oppress them. Please see Daiki’s personal website (
https://hiramori.com/
Stephan Siegel is the Michael G. Foster Endowed Professor of Finance and Business Economics at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business in Seattle, which he joined in 2005. A native of Hamburg, Germany, he earned a B.S. from the University of Bayreuth, Germany, and a Ph.D. in Finance from Columbia University in the City of New York. Prior to his graduate studies, Stephan worked in Europe and China as a project manager with GCI Management, Munich, an international private equity and management consulting firm.
Stephan’s research interests are in international finance as well as household finance. Together with his co-authors, he has examined the globalization of financial markets, the integration of European capital markets, and most recently the pricing of political risk. Stephan’s research in household finance has pioneered the use of genetically informed data to explore biological predispositions with respect to risk taking and investment biases. Most recently, he has explored the role of the cultural transmission of preferences about risk and uncertainty.
His research has been published in a large number of academic journals as well as covered by leading news organizations, including, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times.
Daniel Enquobahrie is a Professor in UW’s department of Epidemiology, and an Adjunct Professor in Health Systems and Population Health. Dr. Enquobahrie’s research interests span cardiovascular/metabolic, reproductive/perinatal, and genetic/epigenetic epidemiology. His research focuses on (1) pre-pregnancy and early/mid pregnancy risk factors (and associated mechanisms) for pregnancy complications and outcomes, and (2) early life and developmental origins of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases.
Jenna van Draanen is an Assistant Professor in the department of Child, Family & Population Health Nursing. The aim of Jenna’s research is to improve science and address health disparities through the rigorous evaluation of interventions and their methods of implementation. Her research agenda advances scientific understanding of the social forces influencing mental health and substance use disorders, which is done through a focus on the harms of socioeconomic marginalization and childhood adversity and in a way that includes the perspectives of people with lived experience. Jenna approaches her research with a life course perspective that ensures phenomena like childhood adversity are properly contextualized and situated with an understanding of the way adversities build over time and across generations, through the concept of linked lives. While her primary appointment is in the School of Nursing, she is an interdisciplinary researcher at heart, coming to the UW from a postdoctoral fellowship in Sociology at the University of British Columbia (in Vancouver, Canada), and holding a PhD in Community Health Sciences from UCLA.
Isabelle Cohen joined University of Washington at the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance in 2021. Her research focuses on innovations and their potential to change the implementation of governmental and non-governmental activities and services in developing countries, using large-scale randomized control trials to rigorously evaluate new technologies and organizational methods. Her work also touches on many other important issues, including state capacity, taxation, education, financial inclusion, health services, and women’s empowerment. She has done research in a variety of countries, including Uganda, India, Peru, and Greece.
Isabelle holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.P.P. from the College of William & Mary, and a B.A. in International Relations from the College of William & Mary. Prior to beginning her doctorate, Isabelle worked as a Research Manager at the Centre for Microfinance at IFMR Lead in Tamil Nadu, India.
Vedavati Patwardhan is a quantitative public policy researcher focusing on gender equality and health in low and middle-income countries, with an emphasis on women’s economic empowerment. Her research has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, including Health Economics, The Lancet Public Health, The Economic and Labour Relations Review, and The Journal of Development Studies. Vedavati is a Research Scientist-Consultant at the Center on Gender Equity and Health at the University of California, San Diego. Previously, she was a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Gender Equality Metrics team at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). She is an Affiliate Assistant Professor at the Evans School of Public Policy at UW Seattle and holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy & Management from the University of Washington.
Taylor Danielson is a Research Manager in the Department of Social and Health Services Research and Data Analysis Division for Washington State.
Dr. Waithaka is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work at George Mason University. His research focuses on intergenerational social and economic mobility during young adults’ transitions to adulthood, with a particular focus on the role of family capital (resources & processes) and public policies influence on young adults’ life outcomes. His research on young adults, both in the United States and in East Africa, focuses on educational attainment, economic engagement and asset development. He has taught a variety of courses including research methods, macro practice, poverty and inequality, human behavior and the social environment, and social work for social justice. He has practice experience in various capacities including non-profit consulting, survey research, program evaluation and being a community support worker for individuals living with disabilities. Dr. Waithaka is a graduate of Daystar University Kenya (BA), Washington University in St. Louis (MSW) and the University of Washington Seattle (PhD, MPA).