Associate Professor
Health Promotion Sciences Department
Biography
Dr. Alaofè’s research focus is on maternal, adolescent and child nutrition with a special emphasis on assessment of dietary and nutritional risk factors for malnutrition. She has expertise in mixed-method research and in their application in program development and evaluation. She conducted two-year SELF longitudinal study, Solar Market Garden program, to examine the impact of solar powered irrigation on food security, nutrition status of women and their children and women empowerment. She also led 4 year quasi-experimental trial to treat anemia and iron deficiency anemia among boarding adolescent girls in Benin. She was involved in the development of dietary assessment methodologies and the evaluation of community-based, dietary and lifestyle intervention studies among multi-ethnic and indigenous populations. She also worked as a Nutrition Research Advisor for the USAID Health Care Improvement Project. She undertook dietary analysis of Zambia’s national food consumption survey, and has made significant contributions to the interactions between agriculture and nutrition with a report to Feed the Future.
Research Synopsis
Research interests include the relationship between diet and disease, ethnic differences in health outcomes, and the development of nutritional and lifestyle intervention programs to promote health. Dr. Alaofè’s current research focuses on the evaluation of Solar Market Garden program, to examine the impact of solar powered irrigation on food security, nutrition status of women and their children and women empowerment. She is also evaluating the Double-Up SNAP initiative whose goal is to increase purchasing of fresh fruits and vegetables by low-income SNAP recipients at two Tucson farmers’ markets. Her long-term goal is to reduce the double burden of malnutrition in low-income communities by conducting efficacy and effectiveness studies within clinical and community settings.
