Barbara E. Cohen, Ph.D., M.P.H., began working with the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) as a Scientific Consultant in 2002 collaborating on scientific publications. She has since continued to provide scientific and evaluation support to various ODS programs and works with the Director to develop ODS’s 5-year strategic plans and annual reports. Dr. Cohen also collaborated with ODS’s Dr. LaVerne Brown, chair of the Trans-NIH Resilience Working Group, to help facilitate the establishment of Resilience Program initiatives.
Dr. Cohen came to Washington, DC, in 1987 to evaluate national nutrition and hunger programs. Her work initially focused on measuring the impact of federal nutrition programs on food consumption patterns and behaviors of recipients. She initiated an effort to reframe the discussion on hunger to a discussion about food security, leading the development of its conceptual framework, definition, and measurement strategies at both the household and community levels. Subsequently, she has focused on evaluating numerous programs and health communication initiatives at NIH and other federal agencies.
Dr. Cohen received her B.A. in general science and sociology from Brandeis University, her M.P.H. in public health nutrition from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her Ph.D. in policy analysis and program evaluation from the Heller School of Social Policy at Brandeis University.