New Director of the Center for Research on Families Announced

Lorraine S. Cordeiro, associate professor in the department of nutrition, School of Public Health and Health Sciences (SPHHS), has been announced as the new director of the Center for Research on Families (CRF).

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Cordeiro is a first-generation graduate and immigrant. She earned her doctorate from Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. Prior to joining UMass Amherst in 2009, she was a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development postdoctoral research fellow at Wellesley College’s Center for Women. Cordeiro is a community-engaged scholar who studies the associations between food security, high risk health behaviors and hunger among women in multiple social and cultural contexts. She has worked extensively on behalf of women and children in underserved populations – from Lowell, Mass. to Tanzania, Bangladesh and Cambodia.

In addition to her research expertise, Cordeiro brings to CRF over 25 years of experience in teaching, mentoring and leadership. She received the SPHHS Outstanding Teaching award in 2013 and the UMass Distinguished Teaching Award in 2015. She was secretary of the World Federation for Health and Migration from 2016 to 2019, a coach for the Faculty Success Program of the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity since 2019, and consulted for several state agencies, including the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, UNICEF, World Food Program as well as community organizations, health centers and hospitals.