By empowering our societies with knowledge and having innovative strategies on primary prevention, we can have a real impact on healthy aging in our population.
Current Work
Vanessa is a researcher focused on nutrition in population at the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico. She is Professor of “Nutrition and Aging” course in the Master and Doctorate on Sciences in Nutrition program of the School of Public Health of Mexico. Her research interests on nutrition in population, focuses on the epidemiology of micronutrient deficiencies and anemia; iron absorption and metabolism; nutrition and aging; nutrition and cognitive function in older adults; and the burden of chronic disease in populations (diabetes and stroke).
Personal Hero
Emelie Forsberg
Words of Strength
Passionately working for the public good
Vision
We all have the potential to change habits for a better health, no matter our age. By empowering our societies with knowledge and having innovative strategies on primary prevention, we can have a real impact on healthy aging in our population.
Strategy
Vanessa is undertaking research from a public health perspective to understand the role of nutrition on aging and cognitive decline in a heterogenous elderly Mexican population to be used as evidence for policy makers to address public health interventions.
Impact
Vanessa aims to gain an in-depth comprehension of all the dimensions of dementia beyond physical health, in order to develop new and effective nutritional interventions that will impact the most of disadvantaged groups of population.
Motivation
Dementia affects 7.3% of the Mexican population. Preventive risk factors, such as an adequate nutrition, remain an area of opportunity for research in the context of low-middle income countries, such as Mexico and Latin-American countries.
Vanessa holds a Bachelor Degree in Nutrition from the University of Veracruz and Master Degree and Doctoral Degrees in Science in Population Nutrition from the School of Public Health of Mexico (SPHM). She is a Member of the Mexican National Researchers registry. Since 2006, Vanessa has been working at the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) in Mexico, as medical researcher and associated coordinator of the Doctoral program in Nutrition in population. She is a Member of the Ethic Research Committee in the NIPH and Professor of the “Nutrition and Aging” course in the Master and Doctoral program on Sciences in Nutrition of the SPHM.