Dr. Metcalfe is an author, film producer, and researcher, who explores our global food system. She was the Founder and Director of Food+City, an innovative project that explored the future of our food system and produced a Food Startup Challenge Prize in Austin, Texas for five years. Her books include The Humans in Our Food, Food Routes, Meat, Commerce and the City, and The New Wizard War. She writes for publications such as The Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, and Science Magazine and participates in podcasts and conferences. Her latest film is The Long Coast, which premiered in 2020 at The Camden International Film Festival.

Dr. Molly Bray is the Chair of the Department of Nutritional Sciences, a Professor in the department, and is the Susan T. Jastrow Chair for Excellence in Nutritional Sciences. Dr. Bray earned a Ph.D. in human and molecular genetics from the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. She previously served as the Director of the Heflin Center for Genomic Sciences Genomics Core Laboratory at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Children’s Nutrition Research Center at the Baylor College of Medicine Genetics Core Laboratory.

Jaimie Davis is a Registered Dietitian and Associate Professor at UT-Austin. She has extensive expertise in nutrition, physical activity, and body composition assessment in pediatric populations. Many of her studies among obese Hispanic youth have shown protective effects of diets low in sugar and high in dietary fiber and fruits and vegetables against obesity and related diseases. Dr. Davis’s research also involves developing school and community-based gardening and cooking programs for obesity prevention and treatment in low-income minority populations.

Drew Hays is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department on Nutritional Sciences.  She received her Master’s Degree of Nutritional Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin and is a professionally trained chef from Le Cordon Bleu Academy of Culinary Arts.  As a chef, she has held a variety of positions including Food Stylist and R&D Chef for the Food Network in New York City. Prior to her position at the University of Texas, she worked as a Clinical Dietitian providing medical nutrition therapy in the acute care setting.

Dr. Laura Lashinger is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Nutritional Sciences. She received a Ph.D in cancer biology from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Her research focuses on the effects of energy balance, particularly calorie restriction, on the progression of cancers using animal models. She currently teaches the advanced nutritional sciences course for undergraduates.

Dr. Heather Leidy is an Associate Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences. She completed a Ph.D. in physiology (with an emphasis in exercise endocrinology and metabolism) at Penn State University as well as a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Nutrition Science at Purdue University. She was also one of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee members. Her research examines the effect of quantity, quality, and timing of dietary protein consumption on the signals that promote healthy eating and weight management across the lifespan.

Monica Milonovich is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Nutritional Sciences. Monica has spent over 10 years in the field of clinical dietetics. During this time, she has worked as a clinical nutrition manager, ensuring consistent clinical nutrition services including policy revisions, food service, and medical nutrition therapy. She teaches both medical nutrition therapy courses and the clinical practice in medical nutrition therapy at the University of Texas.

Dr. Beth Widen is Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences and affiliate faculty at the Population Research Center, the Departments of Women’s Health, and Pediatrics at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin. She received a Ph.D. in Nutrition with a minor in Epidemiology from the University of North California at Chapel Hill, completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University and is a Registered Dietitian.