Grace S. Marquis

Degrees

BA (Indiana University, USA)
MSc (Michigan State University, USA)
PhD (Cornell University, USA)

Short Bio

Grace S. Marquis is Associate Professor at McGill University and Associate Professor/Collaborator at Iowa State University. Her research career began in Peru at the Instituto de Investigación Nutricional. In 1999, her research group started working in Ghana. These long-term collaborations continue today. The work in Ghana is primarily through the Nutrition Research and Training Centre, a permanent research site which she built in the Eastern Region in collaboration with faculty at the University of Ghana (https://www.mcgill.ca/cine/research/building-capacity-sustainable-livelihoods-and-health-ghana). Her community-based research examines how many social, cultural, biological, and environmental factors interact and the mechanisms by which they alter a household’s ability to provide optimal feeding and caregiving for young children. Based on acquired knowledge, her research group develops alternative strategies that will support child health and growth and are feasible for families in poverty. Dr. Marquis is Associate Editor for Advances in Nutrition. She was the Canadian Research Chair in Social and Environmental Aspects of Nutrition from 2006-2016. She received a Doctorate of Laws, honoris causa, for contribution to tertiary education from the University of Ghana in 2013.

Awards and Recognitions

2016 – Dannon Institute Academic Mid-Career Nutrition Leadership Institute
2013 - Doctorate of Laws (honoris causa), University of Ghana
2003 - International Achievement Award, Iowa State University
1999 - National Academic Leaders in Maternal and Child Health
1998 - Dannon Institute Leadership Trainee
1995 - Graduate Research Award, Society for International Nutrition Research/American Society for Nutritional Sciences

Active Affiliations

American Society for Nutrition
Canadian Nutrition Society
The Society for Implementation Science in Nutrition

Research Interests

Our research activities focus mainly on improving young children’s nutrition in poor rural communities. This often includes putting into place activities that help families (1) increase their understanding of maternal and child nutrition and health, (2) earn more money that can be used to purchase food by improving their agricultural practices or businesses, and (3) improve their environment so that children are less sick. We aim to implement sustainable solutions by helping to improve the support that local government and private institutions and communities provide rural women and their households.

Current Research

The objective of Dr. Marquis' community-based program is to examine how social, cultural, institutional, biological, and environmental factors interact to influence a household’s ability to provide optimal feeding and caregiving for mothers, infants, and young children. Based on locally appropriate knowledge, her research group develops alternative strategies that will improve health and growth and are feasible to sustain among rural communities that live in poverty.

• Scaling up women’s agripreneurship through public-private linkages to improve rural women’s income, nutrition, and the effectiveness of institutions in rural Ghana
  Funder: International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

Courses

Publications

To view a list of Dr. Marquis' publications, click here.

Biosketch