91ÉçÇø

Who We Are

Director

David Himmelgreen
Office: SOC 156a

David Himmelgreen is a professor (and former Chair) in the Department of Anthropology and Director of the Center for the Advancement of Food Security and Healthy Communities at the 91ÉçÇø (USF). He is a nutritional anthropologist with expertise in food security, maternal-child nutrition, growth and development, and community nutrition.  Himmelgreen has conducted research in Costa Rica, India, Lesotho, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. With funding from NSF (REU and IRES), he has co-directed community and environmental health field schools in Costa Rica. Since 2014, Himmelgreen has worked with agencies, colleagues, and students to conduct research and program evaluations of services aimed at reducing food insecurity and improving health of individuals and households.  In 2022, he was named as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow and received an Outstanding Research Achievement Award from USF in 2023. Himmelgreen has over 150 publications and has received funding from the NSF, USDA-NIFA, Fulbright, state agencies, and private and corporate foundations. 

Internal partners

 
Christian Brechot (Medicine) Christian Bréchot, MD, PhD joined the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine part time as Senior Associate Dean for Research in Global Affairs, Associate Vice President for International Partnerships and Innovation, and Professor in the Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Internal Medicine. He is also the previous President and now vice-chair of the board of the Global Virus Network, a network of 80 research centers worldwide, headquartered at USF. Before joining USF in 2018, he has served as President of the French NIH, Vice-President of the Institut Merieux and President of the Institut Pasteur. 

Adam Carmer (Muma, Manatee-Sarasota campus), Sir Adam Carmer, EdD, earned a doctorate in educational leadership from the American College of Education, a Master of Research with Merit from the University of Liverpool, a master's degree in hospitality administration and a bachelor's degree in communication from the University of Nevada Las Vegas.  

Rita DeBate (COPH), Rita DeBate, PhD, MPH, FAAHB, FAED, NBC-HWC, is a tenured Professor, Past President of the American Academy of Health Behavior, and Director of the USF Center for Applied Lifestyle Medicine. She is an accomplished National Institutes of Health (NIH) researcher focusing on mental health/eating disorders, college student health and well-being, and lifestyle medicine earning her Fellow designation in the American Academy of Health Behavior, the Academy of Eating Disorders, and the Eating Disorder Research Society.  

Amber Dumford (Education), Amber Dumford is currently a professor of higher education administration in the USF College of Education. Dr. Dumford completed her Ph.D. in Higher Education (with a cognate in Sociology) at the Pennsylvania State University. She also received a master's degree in Public Administration and a baccalaureate degree in Mathematics, both from Indiana University Bloomington (IUB). 

Heewon Gray (COPH), Heewon Gray, PhD, RD, is an associate professor and the concentration lead for the Community and Family Health PhD concentration. She serves as the Chair of the Division of Nutrition Education for Children at the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior (SNEB) and the Chair of the Journal Committee of SNEB. She received a Professional Achievement Award in Community Nutrition from SNEB in 2019 and a Best Article Award from the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior where she serves as a member of the Editorial Board. She served as the Chair of the Research Division at SNEB and the Nominating Committee of the 91ÉçÇø Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in 2023-2024. 

Esteli Jimenez-Soto (Geosciences), Estelí Jiménez-Soto, PhD, works at the intersection of ecology, biodiversity conservation, sustainable agriculture, and food sovereignty. Her research draws from a variety of disciplines and concepts including community ecology, political ecology, anthropology, and critical food geography to have a complex and encompassing understanding of social and ecological dynamics within agroecosystems.  

Mark Kindy (Medicine), Mark Kindy, PhD, FAHA, is a Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Science in the Taneja College of Pharmacy and Department of Molecular Pharmacology & Physiology in MCOM.  Dr. Kindy actively contributes to Interdisciplinary and Emerging Signature Programs, including Allergy, Immunology & Infectious Disease, Biomedical Engineering & Nanomedicine, Cardiovascular studies, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Neurodegenerative Disease, and Neuroscience. Dr. Kindy's research is dedicated to understanding inflammation in neurological and neurodegenerative disorders. He is also a Senior Research Career Scientist at the Haley VA.

Patrizia La Trecchia (World Languages), Patrizia La Trecchia is a cultural studies scholar who has been working at the intersection of food studies and the environmental humanities. She is also the director of the Environmental Humanities Initiative. She was selected to deliver a TEDx on food waste in 2013 and was a visiting scholar at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2014. Her research draws from political ecology, decolonial theory, feminist studies, urban studies, visual culture, communication, and sociology addressing food justice, food sovereignty, and environmental justice within the larger social concerns of a globalized world in a transnational perspective. 

Dillon Mahoney (Anthropology),  Dillon Mahoney, PhD, is a broadly trained applied cultural and linguistic anthropologist with background and interests in issues of indigeneity, heritage, and economic development in East Africa and the United States. Since 2016, He has been working with Swahili-speaking refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 91ÉçÇø’s Hillsborough and neighboring Pinellas Counties. Beginning as a project on diet and nutrition, his team of faculty and students have now spent several years conducting research and working on volunteer projects via Hillsborough County Schools, the Tampa Bay Refugee Task Force, and several community-based organizations and churches. Dr Mahoney also directs the USF-Kenya: Conservation and Sustainable Development field school in Eastern Kenya, which explores issues of climate change, sustainable agriculture, and food security during times of climate change.

Usha Menon (Nursing), Usha Menon, PhD, RN, FAAN, FSBM is Senior Associate Vice President at USF Health, and Dean and Distinguished University Health Professor at the University of South 91ÉçÇø College of Nursing. Usha has built robust connections with community partners to collectively mitigate the nursing shortage in 91ÉçÇø, leading to over $6 million for academic-practice partnerships. She established two interprofessional primary care practice clinics for the college serving patients throughout the Tampa Bay region. The college has seen tremendous growth under her leadership including a historic legislative budget award of $40 million, a significant increase in national and regional rankings across undergraduate and graduate programs, and unprecedented growth in the academic programs and mutually beneficial community and industry partnerships. Over the 25 years of her research career, she has garnered over $64 million in federal and foundation funding. Dr. Menon is a recognized expert in and engaging speaker on behavior change theory and health equity.

Nancy Romero-Daza (Anthropology), Nancy Romero-Daza, PhD, is a medical anthropologist with an appointment as professor at the 91ÉçÇø. From 1994 to 1998, she worked for the Hispanic Health Council in Hartford, Connecticut in several capacities, including senior research scientist and coordinator of the HIV/AIDS and the Women and Chemical Dependency units. She works in medical anthropology, including HIV/AIDS, women's health, health problems in the inner city, substance abuse, syndemics, commercial sex, and food insecurity. Dr. Romero-Daza's geographical areas of interest include Costa Rica, Southern Africa, and the United States.

Marilyn Stern (BCS), Marilyn Stern, PhD, holds a primary appointment in the Department of Child and Family Studies as well as an affiliate position in the Departments of Psychology and Pediatrics. She also holds a Full Member position in the Department of Health Outcomes and Behavior at the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute. Dr. Stern has been elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Divisions 38, 54 and 17), recipient of the Dorothy Booz Black Award for Outstanding Scholarship, named an Outstanding Alumni, University at Buffalo Graduate School and was twice awarded a senior Fulbright scholarship and Lady Davis fellow for international work. 

Lauri Wright (COPH), Lauri Wright, PhD, RDN, LD/N, FADA, is the Director of Nutrition Programs, an associate professor where her research focuses on global malnutrition. Dr. Wright is an Academy Media Spokesperson, Delegate to the Academy House, and the immediate Past-President of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Hariom Yadov (Medicine), Hariom Yadav, PhD, is a Director of USF Center for Microbiome Research, Microbiomes Institute and Associate Professor, Neurosurgery and Brain Repair; Internal Medicine- Digestive Diseases and Nutrition. His team has launched as one of its kind a large multi-site study called Microbiome in aging Gut and Brain (MiaGB) consortium study to harness the power of microbiome in improving healthy aging. He also co-founded Postbiotics Inc and served as Chief Scientific Officer. 

 
Will Schanbacher, Dr. Will Schanbacher is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of South 91ÉçÇø. His research interests concentrate on religious and social ethics with a focus on food sovereignty and local and global food systems. He is the author of Food as a Human Right: Combatting Global Hunger and Forging a Path to Food Sovereignty (Prager, 2019), and The Politics of Food: The Global Conflict between Food Security and Food Sovereignty (Praeger, 2010). His new book “Food Insecurity: A Reference Handbook (Bloomsbury Academic 2023) addresses the history of food insecurity in the United States through a food sovereignty lens. He is the Director of the USF Urban Food Sovereignty Initiative, an interdisciplinary research effort dedicated to finding solutions to food insecurity and exploring ways to build community food sovereignty. 

Faculty from three USF centers/institutes are represented in CAFSHC:  

Brechot (Metropolitan Food Project),  
Yadov (Center for Microbiome Research),  
DeBate (Center for Applied Lifestyle Research).  
Brechot and Himmelgreen (Future of Food Think Tank) 

Community Partners  

Feeding Tampa Bay  
Bay Care Health 
USF Morsani Health 
Tampa General Hospital  
Hillsborough Homegrown 
Seniors in Service 
Evara Health 
Urban Farm Consultants  
Where Love Grows,  
Bishop-Parker Foundation (Manatee County),  
Bread for the World 

Student Researchers

Deven Gray, Ph.D. student, RA
Kris-An Hinds, Ph.D. student, RA
Nicole Kenady, MA student, RA
Funmi Odumuso, MA student, RA
Anastasia Mccoy, undergraduate, Intern
Marcela Munoz Marin, undergraduate Intern
Steven Long, undergraduate, Intern
Alexandra Davis, undergraduate, Federal Work Study Program
Milan Chuganey, undergraduate, Federal Work Study Program
Rosa Veramendi, undergraduate, Federal Work Study Program