The Department of Nutrition in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences will welcome Merrimack College’s Christopher Stuetzle, Eleanor Shonkoff and Elizabeth Natale to present the 38^th annual Virginia A. Beal Lecture, “Virtual Assistant Designed and Tailored for Food Insecure Populations,” Monday, April 13, at 5 p.m. in the Amherst Room of the Campus Center.

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Food insecurity remains a public health issue, disproportionately impacting low-income and marginalized communities. The speakers will present details of their study to design and develop a virtual assistant that addresses key aspects of food insecurity by supporting users’ access to culturally appropriate meal planning, affordable and healthy foods, support for nutrition assistance programs, navigating public transit and locating affordable options.

Stuetzle is academic dean of computational sciences and co-Director of the School of Engineering and Computational Sciences at Merrimack. 

Shonkoff is an associate professor in the School of Nursing and Health Sciences at Merrimack. Her research examines the links between parent factors (e.g. feeding practices, stress), child dietary intake and child obesity risk, particularly within underserved populations facing food insecurity. 

Stuetzle and Shonkoff are also founding members of the Food Justice Research and Action Cluster, which actively tackles local food insecurity and promotes food justice by engaging with community partners and applying its expertise in problem solving efforts in conjunction with their partners.

Natale is an assistant clinical professor in the School of Nursing and Health Sciences at Merrimack. Her research interests focus on outpatient/ambulatory nutrition care, chronic disease and obesity, food and nutrition security, and food as medicine.

The Beal Lecture was endowed in 1989 by the late UMass Amherst nutrition professor and pioneer Virginia A. Beal to provide students, faculty, dietetics professionals, alumni and friends with an opportunity to discuss the challenges and advances at the forefront of the nutrition field. At the event, the department also presents endowed scholarships, one of which bears Beal’s name, to the department’s finest students.

The event is free and open to the public and will be followed by dinner, but seating is limited and registration is required by April 3. 

More information about the event and the history of the Beal Lecture can be found on the SPHHS website.