Departmental Affiliations
Center & Institute Affiliations
Parul Christian, DrPH '96, MSc, studies how to improve maternal and child nutrition and prevent micronutrient deficiencies with effective solutions in low-income settings.
Contact Info
Research Interests
public health; nutrition; micronutrients; maternal, newborn and child health; reproductive health; pregnancy; adolescents; community trials; epidemiology; cognition; Open CourseWare
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Experiences & Accomplishments
As a nutritionist, public health specialist and epidemiologist, Parul Christian has a broad research portfolio in maternal and child nutrition focused on scientific advances in promoting growth, resilience and survival in early life through effective solutions for the low-income context.
Over the past 25 years Parul has advanced the field of maternal and child nutrition and micronutrient deficiency prevention in South Asia and Africa. Her research, underpinned by community randomized trials and epidemiologic studies, has contributed to generating policy relevant evidence on maternal, infant and child nutrition interventions for improving outcomes of pregnancy including fetal growth, child growth and development, and long-term outcomes of cardiometabolic risk. She has over 210 peer-reviewed publications, 12 invited letters and commentaries, and 9 book chapters and serves as Associate Editor for the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. From 2016 to 2019 Parul worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation as a Senior Program Officer, leading the strategy and work in women’s nutrition, shaping investigations of novel interventions for pregnant and lactating women, human milk composition and quality and nutritional biomarkers with a goal of improving birth outcomes and growth and development in early life.
Parul Christian received her undergraduate and MSc degree in foods & nutrition from the M. S. University of Baroda, India, and an MPH and DrPH from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA.
Honors & Awards
2014 Mid-Career Nutrition Leadership Institute, Danone
2008 M. S. University of Baroda, Foods and Nutrition Department, India - Alumni Achievement Award
2004 Pollin Stipend for young investigator of $100,000
2000 Early Career Nutrition Leadership Institute, Danone
1997 Delta Omega Honor Society (Johns Hopkins)
1996 Harry D. Kruse Award for outstanding research in Nutrition,
1996 Society for International Nutrition Research, American Institute of Nutrition - Student Prize for best
Select Publications
Publications that are most recent and provide examples of different aspects of my research interest.
Zavala E, Rahman A, Kalbarczyk A, de Boer M, Khaled N, Chakraborty B, Rahman H, Ali H, Haque R, Ayesha K, Siddiqua TJ, Afsana K, Christian P, Thorne-Lyman AL. Acceptability of a balanced energy protein (BEP) supplement for pregnant women in Bangladesh. Matern Child Nutr 2023; 22:e13587.
Siddiqua TJ, Schulze KJ, Hasan ST, Ahsan KB, Bandyopadhyay S, Zavala E, Ali H, Haque R, Sujan HM, Rahman MH, Baker S, Stephenson KK, Ge X, Gough EK, Langevin B, Wu LSF, Dyer B, Roy AK, Jubair M, Nishan AA, Rosenblum M, Gopalakrishnan M, Kraemer K, Erchick DJ, Ahmed T, Christian P. Micronutrient dose response (MiNDR) study among women of reproductive age and pregnant women in rural Bangladesh: study protocol for double-blind, randomised, controlled trials. BMJ Open 2025; 15:e090108.
Christian P. Anemia in women - an intractable problem that requires innovative solutions. Nat Med 2021; 27:1675-1677.
Lui JC, Palmer AC, Christian P. (invited review). Nutrition, other environmental influences, and genetics in the determination of human stature. Ann Rev Nutr 2024; 44:205-229.
de Boer M, Thorne-Lyman AL, Shamim AA, Wu LS, Shaikh S, Ali H, West KP, Christian P. Dietary diversity as a modifier of the effect of supplementation with multiple micronutrients during pregnancy on low birth weight in a randomized controlled trial in Bangladesh. Am J Clin Nutr 2025; 122:762-769.
Pasqualino MM, Campbell RK, Hurley KM, Wu LS, Shamim AA, Shaikh S, de Pee S, Christian P. Complementary food supplements fill energy and protein gaps among children with dietary inadequacy in a complementary feeding trial in rural Bangladesh. J Nutr. 2024; 9:S0022-3166:01227-6.