ABOUT ME
Bianca Carducci is a CIHR Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at Berman Institute of Bioethics and Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. She completed her PhD at University of Toronto with a Collaborative Specialization in Global Health where her dissertation aimed to improve the understanding of the food environment and its relationship with diet-related health outcomes in school-aged children and adolescents in low- and middle- income countries.
Prior to this, she spent eight years at Centre for Global Child Health, SickKids where she led a variety of research, capacity building and advocacy projects on effective direct and indirect nutrition interventions, policies and best practices to promote optimal growth and development in children and adolescents globally.
Her current program of research includes:
1) Developing and monitoring just food transformations in Planetary Health to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals;
2) Understanding the link between food systems, diets and nutrition through improved data.; and
3) Integrating nutrition within multi-sectoral policies, monitoring systems and programming, particularly in low- and middle- income countries.
EDUCATION
2018-2022
Doctor of Philosophy
Nutritional Sciences
University of Toronto
Thesis: The Relationship Between Food Environments and Nutritional Status in School-aged Children and Adolescents in Low- and Middle- Income Countries: Evidence from Sindh, Pakistan
Collaborative Specialization in Global Health
2012-2013
Master of Science
Human Health and Nutrition
University of Guelph
Research on the inter-modal reliability and usability of a nutrition risk screen tool for preschoolers, Nutri-eSTEP, the online NutriSTEP® in collaboration with Dietitians of Canada
2007-2011
Bachelor of Science
University of Toronto
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
CIHR BANTING POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW
Bloomberg School of Public Health
Berman Institute of Bioethics
Johns Hopkins University
September 2022 - Present
Scaling-up evidence and action in food systems, climate change and health using a systems-level approach, including the exploration of sustainability and resilience
RESEARCH ANALYST
Centre for Global Child Health
SickKids
April 2021 - May 2022
Leading systematic reviews on the direct and indirect impacts of COVID-19 in children and adolescents including disruption of school health and nutrition programs
RESEARCH COORDINATOR
Centre for Global Child Health
SickKids
January 2016 - March 2021
Coordinating a broad range of maternal, child and adolescent health and nutrition research and capacity building projects in low- and middle- income countries
RESEARCH ASSISTANT
Centre for Global Child Health
SickKids
September 2014 - December 2016
Developing e-learning content for the SickKids Public Health Nutrition Course, which included translating and transferring knowledge on 30 public health nutrition topics to healthcare professionals worldwide
AWARDS
2022 Canadian Institutes of Health Research Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship
2021 International Development Research Centre
2021 University of Toronto, Student Engagement Award
2020 Ontario Graduate Scholarship
SELECT PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA
Kalbarczyk A, Aberman N-L, van Asperen BSM, Morgan R, Bhutta Z, Carducci B, Heidkamp R, Osendarp S, Kumar N, Lartey A, Malapit H, Quisumbing A, and Fabrizio C. COVID-19, nutrition, and gender: An evidence-informed approach to gender-responsive policies and programs. Soc Sci Med. 2022;312:115364.
Carducci B, Wasan Y, Shakeel A, Hussain A, Baxter J, Rizvi A, Soofi S and Bhutta ZA. Characterizing Retail Food Environments in Peri-Urban Pakistan during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2022, 19(14), 8614
Baxter J*, Carducci B*, Kamali M, Zlotkin S and Bhutta ZA. Fortification of salt with iron and iodine versus fortification of salt with iodine alone for improving iron and iodine status. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2022, Issue 4. Art. No.: CD013463
Vaivada T, Lassi ZS, Irfan O, Salam RS, Das JK, Oh C, Carducci B, Jain R, Als D, Sharma N, Keats EC, Patton GC, Kruk ME, Black RE, and Bhutta ZA. What can work and how? An overview of evidence-based interventions and delivery strategies to support health and human development from before conception to 20 years. The Lancet. 2022, 399(10337):1810 - 1829
Oh C, Carducci B, Vaivada T and Bhutta ZA. Digital Interventions for Universal Health Promotion in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review. Pediatrics. 2022; 149 (Supplement 6): e2021053852H
Carducci B, Oh, C., Roth, D.E. et al. Gaps and priorities in assessment of food environments for children and adolescents in low- and middle-income countries. Nature Food. 2021, 2: 396–403
Carducci B, Keats EC, Bhutta ZA. Zinc supplementation in pregnancy for improvement of infant outcomes. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2021, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD000230
Carducci B, Keats EC, Ruel M, Haddad L, Osendarp S and Bhutta ZA. Food systems, diets and nutrition in the wake of COVID-19. Nature Food. 2021, 2: 68-70
Carducci B, Oh C, and Bhutta ZA. Addressing Hidden Hunger in School-aged Children and Adolescents within the Context of the Food System. In Biesalski HK (ed): Hidden Hunger and the Transformation of Food Systems. How to Combat the Double Burden of Malnutrition? World Rev Nutr Diet. Basel, Karger, 2020, vol 121
Carducci B, Oh C, Keats EC, Roth D, Bhutta ZA. Effect of Food Environment Interventions on Diet-related Health Outcomes in School-age Children and Adolescents in Low- and Middle- Income Countries. Current Developments in Nutrition. 2020, 4(7):nzaa098
WORKING PAPERS
Rockstrom J., Thilsted S., Willett W., Gordon L., Herrero M., Agustina R., Covic N., Forouhi N.G., Hicks C., Fano J., Kebreab E., Kremen C., Laxminarayan R., Marteau T., Monteiro C., Njuki J., Rivera J.A., Springmann M., Pan A., Pan W.H., Rao N., van Vuuren D., Vermeulen S., Webb P., Carducci B., Conti C., D’Croz D.M., Milutinovic S., DeClerck F. EAT-Lancet 2.0: Securing a Just Transformation to Healthy, Environmentally Sustainable Diets for All (Commentary). [Submitted to Lancet Planetary Health]
Carducci B, Kidd E, Dominguez G, Oh C, Jain R, Khan A and Bhutta ZA. School Food Environment and Nutrition Policies, Programs and Interventions in Canada: A systematic review. [Submitted to Nutrition Reviews]
Carducci B, Chen H, Campisi S, and Miliku K. Adolescence: Nutrition, Growth and Developmental Origins of Chronic Disease: Current Evidence, Possible Mechanisms, and Future Research Priorities. [Submitted to Nutrition Reviews]
Neupane S, Jangid M, Scott SP, Kim SS, Murira Z, Carducci B, Menon P and Heidkamp R. Nutrition Data Gaps are Wider Than Gaps in Existing National Policies and Programs of Eight Countries in South Asia. [Submitted to Maternal and Child Nutrition]
Carducci B, Dominguez G, Kidd E, Janes K, Owais A and Bhutta ZA. Pivoting School Health and Nutrition Programs During COVID-19: A scoping review. [Revisions submitted to J of Global Health]