Sharon Kirkpatrick PhD RD

I am a Registered Dietitian with training in community and public health nutrition. My research focuses on the intersections between nutrition, human and planetary health, equity, and policy, using a systems thinking lens.

Much of my work is aimed at improving methodologies for measuring dietary patterns to foster robust evidence on how these patterns influence human and planetary health and how to promote healthy and sustainable eating practices. My research also examines nutrition and dietary inequities, and I have longstanding interests in the determinants and implications of household food insecurity.

Finally, my work explores the utility of systems thinking and methods to better understand the array of factors that shape major nutrition and public health challenges and the potential intended and unintended consequences of policies and other interventions to address these challenges.

I am an Associate Professor and University Research Chair in the School of Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo. Previously, I was a nutritionist with the Risk Factor Monitoring and Methods Branch at the U.S. National Cancer Institute. I serve on a range of expert working groups and committees in Canada and internationally, as well as on editorial boards.