Roni Neff

My research focuses on food system environmental sustainability and resilience, including equity issues. My current COVID-19 projects include a U.S. national and multi-site survey related to food security (https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataverse/foodaccessandcoronavirus), a survey of U.S. food system workers , and a food system indicator project. This research builds upon my prior work on food system resilience to diverse hazards, including qualitative and quantitative research projects, and work with local governments. More broadly, my projects address topics including wasted food, food security, resource use in the seafood supply chain, and food system worker safety/health. Most projects have a link to climate change. I'm especially interested in the complex social realities that complicate well-meaning public health efforts. I engage with public health practice and with broader food system issues in my role as director of the Food System Environmental Sustainability and Public Health program at the school's Center for a Livable Future. I teach a community-engaged seminar course, Baltimore Food Systems: A Case Study in Urban Food Environments. I also co-direct the school's MPH Concentration in Food Systems & Public Health and our Certificate Program in Food Systems & Public Health. I edited the first textbook on the US food system, Introduction to the US Food System: Public Health, Environment, Equity (Wiley-Jossey Bass, 2014, 576 pgs). I am a 2019-20 participant in the "Cultivating Anti-Oppressive Learning Communities" faculty seminar.