Introduction
Dr Shweta Khandelwal is Head, Nutrition Research at the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), Delhi. She is a trained and experienced public health nutrition researcher currently exploring the role of prenatal omega-3 fatty acids (DHA) supplementation on neurodevelopment of Indian infants. Shweta is also interested in studying the nutrition epidemiology of non-communicable diseases and their risk factors among the Indian population. She serves on expert panels constituted by FSSAI and MoHFW, GoI including oils and fats, sustainable healthy diets and combating high fat, sugar and salt in Indian population. Shweta is the lead for capacity building initiatives in Public Health Nutrition at PHFI. In addition to more than 50 peer reviewed articles in scholarly journals, she has contributed several op-eds and review pieces in leading international and national print and online media. Shweta has also won several prestigious awards and recognition in the area of public health nutrition.
Expert
Dr Shweta Khandelwal is a nutrition epidemiologist, Head Nutrition Research and Additional Professor at the Public health Foundation of India. Shweta has authored more than 60 scientific publications on public health and nutrition research and policy in India. She has served in numerous advisory roles including for the Indian government. Her opinion pieces and inputs on various forms of malnutrition and policy interventions have been featured in a wide array of national and international media outlets including the New York Times, the Guardian, Hindu Business Line, Financial Express, Forbes India, Reuters, Hindustan times, etc.
Dr. Khandelwal received a BSc in foods and nutrition from GB Pant University, MSc in food science and nutrition at SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai, another MSc in Public health from LSHTM and doctorate in nutrition from University of Delhi. Shweta has pursued her two year NIH funded D43 post-doctoral fellowship training in nutrition epidemiology from Emory University, Atlanta. Shweta has been awarded several other research fellowships and grants in the past including Dept of Science and Technology’s Young Scientist Award (2013); Wellcome Trust funded Career Development Research Fellowship (2014-2015) and Emerging leader in the area of cardiovascular prevention by the World Heart Federation (2014).
She is currently pursuing her Wellcome-DBT Alliance fellowship (Dec 2015-2020) assessing the role of pre- and post-natal omega-3 supplementation in improving offspring neurodevelopment in India (#DHANItrial). At PHFI, Shweta led the development, roll-out and supervision of the online academic initiative in Public Health Nutrition (2010-2014). Her current postgraduate teaching includes courses on public health nutrition, nutrition epidemiology and health promotion. As a part of capacity strengthening initiatives, Shweta has been the Course Director of the International Training seminar on Nutrition Epidemiology series for the past several years. Shweta has also served as the Lead, capacity building arm, as a part of the DFID-funded Transform Nutrition project (2011-2015).
Shweta has been conferred many prestigious awards like the “Significant Contribution Award” from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi (Jan 2014), Young Scientist Award 2009 in Experimental Nutrition (by the Nutrition Society of India, NIN), Dr. K.U. Naram Award as well as Dr. Dhirajlal Dhanjibai Shah Memorial Prize for stellar academic records.
Fields of expertise: Environmental policy / climate change, Health and wellbeing