Mandana Arabi

Mandana Arabi is a Medical Doctor with a PhD in Nutrition Sciences from Cornell University. She has worked for more than 15 years in public health nutrition, first as a nutrition technical expert with the Ministry of Health and the World Bank in Iran, and later as a Child Nutrition Adviser with UNICEF Headquarters in New York. She is an expert in international nutrition and has facilitated nutrition programming in more than 15 countries dealing with the double burden of over- and under-nutrition. She has been a co-author on various global guidance documents including the UNICEF Infant and Young Child Programming Guide and the WHO Indicators for Infant and Young Child Feeding. As the Founding Executive Director of The Sackler Institute for Nutrition Science at the New York Academy of Sciences, she led a global initiative to develop a research agenda for nutrition science, build partnerships across sectors to stimulate scientific research, and advance implementation of the research outcomes towards better policy and program development. At the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), she is leading a platform for engaging the public and private sector in supporting action-oriented research that can increase the availability and affordability of nutritious products and services to the most vulnerable populations.