Food Affordability and the Future of Public Health: A Conversation with the 2026 Langholz Award Recipient, Dr. Adam Drewnowski

Description

Learning Objectives

• Assess how economic, social, and policy factors influence diet quality, food affordability, and health disparities.
• Evaluate the role of nutrition research in shaping food systems, public health policy, and population health outcomes
• Identify opportunities for cross-sector collaboration to advance equitable access to healthy diets and improve public health.

Performance Indicators

• 2.3.5 Advocates to advance public policy that addresses health disparities, health inequities, and food insecurity.
• 13.2.1 Identifies determinants of health and influences on population health status.
• 13.3.1 Designs programs, interventions, or initiatives based on assessment and surveillance data and evidence-based literature.

Speaker

• 

  Adam Drewnowski

  Professor, University of Washington

  Adam Drewnowski is Professor of Epidemiology and the Director of the Center for Public Health Nutrition at the University of Washington in Seattle. He obtained an MA degree in biochemistry from Balliol College, Oxford University in the UK and PhD degree in psychology from The Rockefeller University in New York. Dr. Drewnowski is the author of the Nutrient Rich Food Index, a well-known nutrient profiling model to assess the healthfulness of foods. He has published on food prices, diet costs, and affordable nutrient density in relation to health equity and social disparities. His Seattle Obesity Study, merging survey research with novel methods of spatial analysis, received long-term funding from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Drewnowski has published more than 400 research articles, and advises foundations, governments, non-profits, and the private sector on nutrient profiling and obesity-related issues. Dr. Drewnowski is a Fellow of the American Society for Nutrition and a member of the Académie d’Agriculture de France. He gave the 2024 Atwater Memorial lecture and received an honorary doctorate from McGill University Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences in 2025.

  Read More Read Less

Moderator

• 

  Deanne Brandstetter

  Immediate Past President, Academy of Nutrition of Dietetics

  Deanne Brandstetter, M.B.A., R.D. has over forty years of experience in the food and nutrition business. As Vice President of Nutrition & Wellness for Compass Group, North America, she led a team that coordinates wellness programs for foodservice clients and developed innovative & award winning cross sector nutrition & wellness initiatives. She also directed the nutrition program for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah as part of the Compass Olympics Lead Management Team. Deanne’s marketing background and passion for great food has fueled her goal of creatively translating medical and nutrition science into innovative exciting food concepts for Compass Group customers. She earned an American Culinary Federation Silver medal for Healthy Cuisine and has presented at meetings in the US and globally. Deanne has been a leader in many Academy committees, task forces and DPGs was the 2022-23 Academy Treasurer and the 2025-26 President. She co-chaired of the CIA Healthy Menus R&D Collaborative, is a WELL Nourishment concept advisor and serves on the Advisory Board to the Dean of the School of Education, Health and Society at Miami University as well as the Board of Food + Planet. Deanne was awarded a WELL Community Award in 2021 and the Dietitians in Business & Communications Outstanding Leader in 2022.

  Read More Read Less