Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation Fellow, Gabriela Montenegro-Bethancourt, MSc, PhD, has received a 2023 OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Award for Early-Career Women Scientists in the Developing World for her contribution to help meet the challenges of food security and advancing the U.N. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2, Zero Hunger. This SDG focuses on agricultural productivity and sustainable food production.
Gabriela is the Foundation’s Early Complementary Feeding of Eggs in Rural Guatemala Foundation Fellow and is one of seven scientists to receive this award. Gabriela is a nutrition researcher whose work contributes to strengthen primary health care in rural Guatemala. She works with the most vulnerable communities in Guatemala with an organization whose mission is to provide health care in Mayan languages and contribute to reducing maternal mortality and child malnutrition, overcoming barriers to the treatment of complex medical conditions, providing optimal care to children and adults with chronic conditions, and promoting access to clean water. Her research is designed to take into consideration nutrition’s broad strategic possibilities, such as empowering women, increasing the availability of nutrient-rich foods, improving access to health services, and designing effective nutrition interventions.
Team member Vilma Boron and Gabriela (Panabajal, Tecpán)
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Gabriela and local children (Panabajal, Tecpán)
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This award has a deep meaning for me. I find an important connection between the 2023 ELSEVIER Foundation-OWSD award and the Academy’s vision of seeking: “A world where all people thrive through the transformative power of food and nutrition”. As a Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation, I have always appreciated being part of the collaboration between the Academy and the Maya Health Alliance Organization. The Fellowship Programs are also an effort to transform the world by providing opportunities and leadership for nutritionists from countries with less resources to continue developing their scientific careers in their own countries. This award then reinforces that vision. The ELSEVIER Foundation –OWSD award is a symbolic recognition of the work of many women scientists who are in developing countries. I am very grateful for this recognition, at the same time it is a motivation and a commitment to continue working to make a better and less unequal world through what we do with passion.
Gabriela Montenegro-Bethancourt, MSc, PhD
Early Complementary Feeding of Eggs in Rural Guatemala Foundation Fellow
Gabriela works with the Maya Health Alliance/Wuqu’ Kawoq in Tecpán, Guatemala to conduct her research. Her groundbreaking work will have an impact on the health and well-being of women and children for generations in her home country. Her Foundation Fellowship is funded by the Egg Nutrition Center and her work is aligned with our Foundation’s mission to empower current and future food and nutrition professionals to optimize global health.
The Foundation Board of Directors congratulates Gabriela on this tremendous achievement, her work demonstrates and reinforces the criticality of the Foundation’s Fellowship program to our mission and our profession. Gabriela’s dedication, passion and impact is truly inspiring. Foundation Fellowships are supported by Foundation donors and partners.
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