Dr. Junaidah Barnett
Dr. Barnett received her Master of Community Heath (Nutrition) degree from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, and her Ph.D. in Nutrition at Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. Her postdoctoral training at the Tufts University School of Medicine was in Nutrition/Well-Controlled Diet Studies, and the Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, was in Nutritional Epidemiology (Prospective Cohort Studies).
Dr. Barnett’s research interests include determining the impact of diet, lifestyle, the environment, and other factors, on maintenance of optimal health, prevention of diseases, and optimization of healing from diseases. Dr. Barnett was Scientist I, at the Department of Nutritional Immunology, Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging and Adjunct Associate Professor, at Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy; and Research Scientist at the Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Heath.
As Principal Investigator/Project Director and/or co-Investigator, Dr. Barnett has successfully designed and conducted over 20 human research studies. Her research has focused on the associations of foods, food groups, dietary patterns, macro- and micro-nutrients, as well as other lifestyle factors, including physical activity, on various chronic and infectious diseases, and their risk factors. Studies conducted previously included community needs assessment; randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled nutrition intervention; well-controlled diet; cross-sectional; nutrition education; dietary and physical activity validation; as well as epidemiological studies in populations of diverse demographic, ethnic and age groups. The geographical areas where these studies have been conducted include Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, as well as nationally (the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study), and internationally in the Philippines, West Malaysia, and Singapore. Recent work included meta-analyses to determine the effect of intake of fiber, fruits and vegetables and meat on risk of breast cancer.
Dr. Barnett is currently Co-Principal Investigator of the Radical Remission Multimodal Intervention Study based at the Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health (with Dr. Michelle Holmes as the Principal Investigator). Her relatively more recent research activities included her role as follows: Principal Investigator evaluating the effect of the Hebrew Senior Life Healthy Living Center of Excellence (HLCE) on the quality of life of participants; Director and Co-Investigator of the Lifestyle Validation Studies for women and men (WLVS and MLVS, respectively) at Harvard University and Principal Investigator at the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University; as well as Co-Investigator of The Multi-Cohort Eating and Activity Study for Understanding Reporting Error (MEASURE) funded by the National Cancer Institute; a collaborative effort between the Harvard School of Public Health and the National Cancer Institute.