Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, PhD
Professor of Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences); Director, Office of Public Health PracticeCards
About
Titles
Professor of Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences); Director, Office of Public Health Practice
Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health; Director, YSPH Global Health Concentration; Director, Maternal and Child Health Promotion (MCHP) Program
Biography
Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, Ph.D., is Professor of Public Health, and Director of the Office of Public Health Practice, the Global Health Concentration, and the Maternal Child Health Promotion track at the Yale School of Public Health. He is the PI of the Yale-Griffin CDC Prevention Research Center (PRC). His global public health nutrition and food security research program, supported with over $70 million in extramural funds, has contributed to improvements in breastfeeding and other maternal, infant and young child nutrition outcomes, iron deficiency anemia among infants, household food security, and early childhood development. He has co-led innovative mixed-methods implementation studies assessing the impact of community health worker person centered interventions on breastfeeding, type-2 diabetes, post-partum hypertension and mental health outcomes among in vulnerable communities, including people of color in the U.S. He has published over 340 research articles, 3 books/monographs, and numerous journal supplements, book chapters, and technical reports. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine (elected in 2019) and served in the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Food and Nutrition Board from 2012-18. He has been a senior advisor to maternal-child community nutrition programs as well as household food security measurement projects funded by the World Health Organization, the Pan American Health Organization, UNICEF, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the U.S. Agency for International Development, The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH),The World Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Governments across world regions. He obtained his BS in Chemical Engineering from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City and his MS in Food Science and his PhD in Nutrition from the University of California at Davis. His postdoctoral training at UC Davis focused on the link between nutrition and early childhood development.
Appointments
Social and Behavioral Sciences
ProfessorPrimary
Other Departments & Organizations
- Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly
- Center for Brain & Mind Health
- Center for Methods in Implementation and Prevention Science (CMIPS)
- Climate Change and Health
- Global Health Studies
- InnovateHealth Yale
- Maternal and Child Health Promotion (MCHP) Program
- Obesity Research Working Group
- Office of Public Health Practice (OPHP)
- Social and Behavioral Sciences
- Yale Institute for Global Health
- Yale School of Public Health - NEW
- Yale Ventures
- YSPH Global Health Concentration
Education & Training
- Postdoctoral fellow
- UC Davis (1994)
- PhD
- University of California at Davis (1991)
- MS
- University of California at Davis (1985)
- BS
- Universidad Iberoamericana, Chemical Engineering (1982)
Research
Overview
Medical Research Interests
Public Health Interests
Academic Achievements & Community Involvement
News & Links
News
- December 09, 2024
YSPH community supports local agencies with gift basket raffle
- November 21, 2024Source: Nature Biotechnology
Lab-grown breast milk
- October 15, 2024
New Study Compares Approaches to Control High Blood Pressure
- August 01, 2024
Five Things Infant Formula Companies Don’t Want You to Know