Shweta Khandelwal

Biography

Shweta Khandelwal, a trained public health nutritionist, has a doctorate in Human Nutrition from the University of Delhi as well as a second Master’s degree in Public health (distance learning) from LSHTM, UK. Shweta has also completed a 2 year NIH sponsored D43 postdoctoral fellowship (Evaluation Grade: A/Excellent) from Emory University, Atlanta and Centre for Chronic Disease (CCDC), New Delhi. At PHFI she has significantly contributed to the development and supervision of the online academic initiative in Public Health Nutrition for the last 4 years (March 2010- March 2014). She is involved in curriculum development, upgradation and teaching (Major areas: Nutrition epidemiology, Health promotion). As a part of capacity strengthening (in nutrition) initiatives, Shweta has been the Course Director of the International Training seminar on Nutrition Epidemiology series (http://www.ccdcindia.org/nutriepitraining.php) in New Delhi for the past four years. She is also the Lead, capacity building arm, as a part of the DFID-funded international project (of which PHFI is one of the 7 partner institutions) called “Transform Nutrition” (www.transformnutrition.org/). She is the recipient of Government of India, Dept of Science and Technology’s Young Scientist Award to examine the impact of prenatal Docosahexanoic acid (DHA) supplementation on newborn anthropometry. Additionally, she has served as a co-investigator on a couple of research projects (salt intake in India, trans fats, diet and inflammation, etc). She is a UGC-NET qualified researcher who received Junior and Senior research fellowships to complete her doctoral thesis by the Delhi University. Her thesis work revolved around analyzing the effect of dietary factors (in particular, omega 3 fatty acids and plant sterol-esters) on the cardiovascular risk factors. She graduated from G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar and later went to the SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai where she got her Masters’ degree in Food Science and Nutrition with high academic honours. Shweta has been conferred many prestigious awards like the “Significant Contribution Award” from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi (Jan 2014), Young Scientist Award 2009 in Experimental Nutrition (by the Nutrition Society of India, NIN), Dr. K.U. Naram Award for securing first rank in the M.H.Sc. in 2004-2005 from S.N.D.T. University, Mumbai, Dr. Dhirajlal Dhanjibai Shah Memorial Prize (First prize) for securing the highest G.P.A. in the Foods and Nutrition Deptt in M.H.Sc. in 2005, The Association of Scientists and Technologists (India) Bombay Chapter Prize for standing first in 2004-2005 in Post Graduate Deptt of Foods and Nutrition, S.N.D.T. University, Mumbai. She has recently been selected as a part of the first cohort of World Heart Federation’s Ëmerging Leaders Programme for global CVD prevention.

Research Interest

Life-course nutrition epidemiology especially investigating the role of early life nutrition in adult life non-communicable diseases. Capacity building in public health nutrition in developing countries