Rafael Perez-escamilla PhD

Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, Ph.D. is a tenured Professor of Public Health, Director of the Office of Public Health Practice, and Director of the Global Health Concentration at the Yale School of Public Health. His global research program has led to improvements in large-scale breastfeeding protection, promotion, and support programs, iron deficiency anemia among infants, household food security measurement and policies, maternal, infant and young child feeding counseling initiatives, and lifestyles and metabolic outcomes among Latinos with type 2 diabetes supported by community health workers. He has published over 210 research articles, co-edited 2 books, and published numerous journal supplements, book chapters, and technical reports. He served as a member of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Food and Nutrition Board (2012-18), The US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (2010 and 2015), the 2016 Lancet Early Childhood Development Series steering committee, and co-chaired the HER-RWJF National Expert Panel that developed the comprehensive Responsive Infant and Young Toddler Feeding Guidelines (2017).

He is co-Editor-in-Chief of Maternal & Child Nutrition and Deputy Editor of Current Developments in Nutrition. He has been a senior advisor to maternal-child nutrition programs and household food security projects funded by USDA, CDC, USAID, WHO, UNICEF, The World Bank, the Gates Foundation, Zero to Three, and Governments across world regions. He obtained his BS in Chemical Engineering from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, his MS in Food Science, his Ph.D. in Nutrition, and his early childhood development postdoctoral training from the University of California at Davis.