Nahla Hwalla PhD, RD, FAND

Dr. Nahla Hwalla is Professor of Human Nutrition and Registered Dietitian with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, USA. She also serves as Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences at the American University of Beirut. Her research focuses on obesity, its prevalence, determinants and dietary manipulation to curb its effects. She has received extensive funding for her research from local and international agencies such as WHO, IAEA and the Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS), and has published numerous articles on obesity and related topics in peerreviewed international journals. Dr. Hwalla has provided Lebanon with the 1st and 2nd national studies on obesity and has established an Associated Research Unit on Undernutrition and Obesity and another on Nutrition and Non-communicable Disease supported by the Lebanese CNRS. She has served on various international expert committees and was appointed by the Director General of WHO to serve on the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Nutrition. Dr. Hwalla is the Director of the Lebanon World Health Organization Collaborating Center on Nutrition.