Elizabeth Widen, Ph.D., RD

Elizabeth Widen, Ph.D., R.D., is a courtesy assistant professor in the departments of Pediatrics and Women’s Health and an assistant professor in the Department Nutritional Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin.

Widen is a nutritional epidemiologist with expertise in nutrition science, epidemiology, global health, obesity, maternal and child health and clinical translational research. Widen’s research program applies an interdisciplinary life course approach to the intersection of nutrition sciences with reproductive, perinatal, pediatric and nutritional epidemiology.

The goal of Widen’s research is to develop and apply advanced analytic methods and interdisciplinary approaches to rigorously evaluate the role of nutrition during the first 1,000 days of life on short and long-term health. Widen’s currently funded research includes a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award “Pregnancy weight trajectories and offspring adiposity” and a Thrasher Research Fund Early Career Award “Pathways between maternal nutrition, toxicant exposure, home environment and child neurodevelopment.” At UT Austin, she is currently leading a prospective cohort study of pregnant women and their infants.

Widen holds a Bachelor of Science in dietetics from Miami University, a Registered Dietitian from University of Maryland at College Park and a doctorate in nutritional epidemiology from Gillings School of Global Public Health at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to completing her doctorate, Widen was an intramural research training award fellow at the National Institutes of Health. Following her doctorate, Widen completed an interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University.