Overview
Assistant Professor of Food and Nutrition Policy
243L Atwell Hall
453 W. 10th Ave.
Columbus, Ohio 43210
Phone: 614-685-0639
Email: jennifer.garner@osumc.edu
Primary Professional Areas of Interest
- Food security and food assistance
- Food and agricultural policy
- Diet and health disparities
- Mixed method program evaluation
Research Focus
Dr. Jennifer Garner is a Registered Dietitian and Assistant Professor of Food and Nutrition Policy. She joined The Ohio State University faculty in fall 2018 as a Discovery Theme hire through the Initiative for Agricultural Transformation (InFACT) focus area. She has dual appointment in the College of Medicine’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Science and the John Glenn College of Public Affairs.
Leveraging mixed methods, Dr. Garner evaluates community-based interventions designed to reduce food insecurity and chronic disease risk among low-income families. She is interested in exploring whether current diet and health disparities can be reduced via food assistance programming and policy reform and, more specifically, in understanding the nutritional, health, economic and social impacts – for consumers, farmers and the broader community – of programs designed to connect low-income households to healthy foods via the local food system.
Dr. Garner’s exposure to the interrelated topics of our food system, food access, and nutrition programming began in her hometown – a small farming community in rural Michigan. She attended Central Michigan University on full scholarship and earned a Bachelor of Science in Dietetics, summa cum laude, before matriculating into the combined PhD/RD program in Cornell University’s Division of Nutritional Sciences. Her dietetic internship offered opportunities to explore food access and health disparities in both community and clinical settings. As a NIH/NIDDK predoctoral trainee, she gained targeted training in the conduct of translational research via the WHO/Cochrane/Cornell University Summer Institute for Systematic Reviews in Nutrition for Global Policy Making and an internship in Washington D.C. with the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board.
In addition to conducting research, Dr. Garner serves as Past Chair and Public Health Representative for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ Council on Research and as Chair of the Academy’s Research Priorities and Strategies Development Task Force. In 2017, she was awarded Recognized Young Dietitian of the Year by the New York State Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Dr. Garner looks forward to advancing the science of food and nutrition policy in collaboration with student mentees, interdisciplinary scholars, and a broad array of community partners.
Recent Publications
Hanson KL, Garner JA, Connor LM, Jilcott Pitts SB, Harris R, Kolodinsky J, McGuirt J, Wang W, Ammerman A, Sitaker MH, Seguin RA. Fruit and Vegetable Preferences and Practices May Hinder Participation in Community-Supported Agriculture Among Low-Income Rural Families. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. 2018; doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2018.08.006.
Becot F, Sitaker M, Kolodinsky J, Morgan EH, Wang W, Garner JA, Ammerman A, Jilcott Pitts SB, Seguin RA. Can a shift in the purchase of local foods by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients impact the local economy? Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems Journal. 2018; 1-12.
Seguin RA, Morgan EH, Hanson KL, Ammerman A, Jilcott Pitts SB, Kolodinsky J, Sitaker M, Becot F, Connor LM, Garner JA, McGuirt J. Farm Fresh Foods for Healthy Kids (F3HK): An innovative community supported agriculture cost-offset intervention to prevent childhood obesity and strengthen local agricultural economies. BMC Public Health. 2017;17:306.
Recent Presentations
Garner JA, Seguin RA. A Cost-effectiveness evaluation of the Double Up Food Bucks farmers market incentive program in New York State. Society for Nutrition Education & Behavior. Minneapolis, MN, 2018.
Garner JA, Olujide M, Ammerman AS, Jilcott Pitts SB, Kolodinsky J, Sitaker MH, Seguin RA. Educators’ experiences with a local foods curriculum for low-income households in a subsidized community supported agriculture program. Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo. Chicago, Illinois, 2017.
Garner JA, Jilcott Pitts SB, Hanson KL, Ammerman AS, Kolodinsky J, Sitaker MH, Connor LM, Seguin RA. A mixed methods process evaluation of the Farm Fresh Foods for Healthy Kids (F3HK) Program. International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. Victoria, BC Canada, 2017.
Major Awards
Recognized Young Dietitian of the Year, New York State Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics (2017)
Education
- 2018 – Ph.D., Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University
- 2015 – R.D., Cornell University Dietetic Internship
- 2013 – BSc, Dietetics (Summa cum laude), Central Michigan University