Abiodun Atoloye

Dr. Abiodun Atoloye is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Dietetics & Food Sciences at Utah State University. Her research focuses on inequities in food access and community food systems, particularly barriers faced by low-resource families, refugees, and immigrants in accessing healthy, affordable, safe, nutritious, and culturally acceptable food.

Education:

• Postdoctoral Training, Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, University of Connecticut, 2022
• Ph.D., Nutrition Sciences, Utah State University, 2019
• M.Sc., Human Nutrition, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, 2015
• B.Sc., Food Science and Technology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, 2008

Dr. Atoloye employs a contextual and spatial approach to research, utilizing mapping, citizen science, and policy analyses to identify residents' needs and measure exposures and outcomes. Her work identifies cross-sector actions and place-based interventions to improve food access and health outcomes through policy, system, and environment (PSE) change approaches. She integrates nutrition, health, environment, and food systems perspectives with emphasis on cultural acceptability and global contexts.

Dr. Atoloye has secured significant research funding including:

• Co-PI on USAID-funded international study examining food safety and childhood malnutrition
• Co-PI on Summer Institutes in Computational Social Science and Russell Sage Foundation-funded study of Black immigrants with PhDs
• Co-I on NOPREN Coordinating Center funds for promoting racial equity among Food Policy Councils
• Co-lead of current USAID-funded study on youth participation in school gardening

She also contributed to NOPREN's Food System Indicators database development. Although her Inclusive Food Access Research (I-FAR) Lab is not currently recruiting graduate students, it actively engages undergraduate researchers in promoting food equity through citizen-driven interventions targeting safe, affordable, and culturally appropriate food access globally.