Francesca Scazzina

Francesca Scazzina is an Associate Professor of Human Nutrition at the Department of Food and Drug Sciences, University of Parma. She specializes in nutritional education, food sustainability, and Mediterranean diet research. Her work focuses on improving dietary habits through school-based interventions and promoting sustainable food systems globally. She co-founded Madegus, a social enterprise developing educational tools to enhance nutritional knowledge and combat malnutrition in developing countries like Rwanda and Tanzania. Her research spans dietary patterns’ environmental impacts, public health interventions, and the role of traditional foods in nutrition. She collaborates internationally on EU-funded projects such as STRENGTH2FOOD and SWITCHtoHEALTHY, aiming to align dietary practices with sustainability goals. She is actively involved in organizations like the Italian Society of Human Nutrition (SINU) and the European Public Health Association (EUPHA).

Her projects include the Pappa di Parma initiative, optimizing recipes for malnutrition-prone regions, and the MED4Youth study comparing Mediterranean vs. low-fat diets for youth obesity. She teaches courses on nutrition physiology, metabolic regulation, and food science at undergraduate and graduate levels. Her work bridges academia and practice, emphasizing dietary quality, cultural relevance, and ecological responsibility.