2023–2024 NHLCC Scholar: Gabriela Vatavuk Serrati

Gabriela Vatavuk Serrati
PhD Candidate
TheUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Gabriela Vatavuk Serrati is a doctoral candidate in Nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she is actively involved in the Global Food Research Program under the mentorship of Dr. Lindsey Smith Taillie. Her research interests focus on food policies, the nutritional content of packaged foods, and the relationship between diet and chronic diseases. Gabriela’s dissertation explores the prevalence of ultra-processed foods among Hispanic/Latino populations in North and Latin America, examining their consumption by participants from the Hispanic Community Health Survey/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) and its association with acculturation and adiposity. Gabriela holds a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. During her time there, she worked as a graduate research assistant, studying the diet quality of Hispanic and Chinese immigrants compared to their U.S.-born counterparts in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) and HCHS/SOL cohorts. Her long-term goal is to drive advancements in nutrition epidemiology and contribute to creating a healthier, more equitable food system to help prevent chronic diseases. She was honored as a Lemann Fellow, joining a network of leaders dedicated to reducing inequalities and promoting social progress in her home country, Brazil. This fellowship fully funded her master’s degree at Columbia University. In addition, Gabriela received a Food Fellowship from the Mailman School of Public Health for her research work in food and nutrition during her master’s practicum. Gabriela looks forward to connecting and collaborating with fellow NLHCC members.