AMBIKAPATHI Ramya
Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT , Columbia
- Ramya holds a PhD in Human Nutrition, a certificate in Public Health Economics, and an MS in Global Disease and Epidemiology from Johns Hopkins University, with an undergraduate background in ecology.
- Before joining the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, she held research positions at Cornell, Purdue, and Harvard universities in the United States.
- Her past research has examined how both personal and external food environments shape diets, using mixed methods and placing strong emphasis on gender and equity.
- Her academic interests include exploring gender dynamics in food systems from a multidisciplinary lens, as well as the role of informal food environments in shaping nutrition, livelihoods, and resilience.
- She has conducted research in a wide range of countries, including Tanzania, Laos, Peru, South Africa, and India. Ramya also served as a drafting member of the recent High-Level Panel of Experts (HLPE Report #19) on “Strengthening urban and peri-urban food systems to achieve food security and nutrition in the context of urbanization and rural transformation.”
Recent publications:
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Strengthening urban and peri-urban food systems to achieve food security and nutrition in the context of urbanization and rural transformation.
- O’Malley SF, Ambikapathi R, et al. Food purchase diversity is associated with market food diversity and diets of children and their mothers but not fathers in rural Tanzania: Results from the EFFECTS baseline survey. Matern Child Nutr. 2025 Jan;21(1):e13734.
- Ambikapathi, R. et al. Resilient and inclusive rural transformation: Pathways towards improved nutrition. Global Food Security 2025;46: 100871.
- Ambikapathi R, Mason-D’Croz D. How climate change impacts nutrition security in low- and middle-income countries.
- Ambikapathi R, et al. Expanding the food environment framework to include family dynamics: A systematic synthesis of qualitative evidence using HIV as a case study. Glob Food Sec. 2024 Sep;42:100788.