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Emily Merchant

Graduate Student
Department of Plant Biology

Emily MerchantEmily Merchant graduated with her PhD in 2023 from Rutgers University. Her research focused on the interface between food environments and human health using culturally preferred foods as a vehicle for delivering nutrients to underserved populations.

Dr. Merchant was involved in the following projects:

              • Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture grant title, “Improving Nutrition with African Indigenous Vegetables in Kenya and Zambia”
              • In partnership with AMPATH, KALRO, and the HortInnovation Lab: Food environment factors that influence African indigenous vegetable consumption in Kenya.
              • In partnership with Mirror of Hope CBO, AMPATH, and Rutgers School of Public Health: Strengthening value chains with sack gardens in informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya
              • In partnership with InterFaith Rise: Promoting regenerative agriculture and food sovereignty with refugee communities in central New Jersey.

After graduating, Dr. Merchant now works as an assistant professor in the Department of Urban-Global Public Health at the Rutgers School of Public Health.

emily.merchant@rutgers.edu