Dr Reynaldo Martorell

Reynaldo Martorell’s research interests include maternal and child nutrition, child growth and development, the significance of early childhood malnutrition for short and long term human function, micronutrient malnutrition, and the emergence of obesity and chronic diseases in developing countries. Dr. Martorell ‘s policy interests include global health concerns, particularly programs and policies in food and nutrition, issues dealing with hunger and malnutrition, and the health implications of changes in diet and lifestyles in developing countries. Current projects take place in Guatemala, Mexico, Viet Nam, China and India. In India, he and his team provide expertise in nutrition as part of an effort led by CARE, India and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which seeks to improve the quality and quantity of health and nutrition services to women and young children in Bihar, working in collaboration with government. He is the Emory principal investigator of the COHORTS group, which includes investigators from the 5 longest running birth cohorts in developing countries (Guatemala, Delhi-India, the Philippines, Brazil and South Africa); this collaboration carries out pooled analyses of the relationship between early childhood growth and nutrition on long term biological, physiological and human capital outcomes. He has more than 400 publications, many of them appearing in leading journals. Dr. Martorell is the Robert W. Woodruff professor of International Nutrition and in 2009 stepped down as chair of the Hubert Department of Global Health, a position he held for 11 years. He is Senior Advisor of the Global Health Institute of Emory University, a member of the Executive Management Team of the Flour Fortification Initiative, a Director of the Nevin S Scrimshaw International Nutrition Foundation, a Trustee of the Helen Keller Foundation and a member of the Advisory Board of the Cornell-Tata Agriculture-Nutrition Initiative in India. He is an advisor to UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the World Bank and the Interamerican Development Bank. Awards include the McCollum International Lectureship, the International Nutrition Prize from Kellogg’s and the Society for International Nutrition Research, the Marion Creekmore award from Emory University, the Carlos Slim award for lifetime research achievements in health, the Gopalan Oration and Gold Medal Award from the Nutrition Society of India and awards for contributions in nutrition from the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama ( INCAP) and the government of Honduras. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States in 2003. Prior to his position at Emory, Dr. Martorell held appointments at Cornell University, Stanford University, and INCAP in Guatemala. Dr. Martorell received a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from St. Louis University and a Ph.D. in biological anthropology from the University of Washington. He was born in Honduras, Central America.
Contact Details
Ermory University
1599 Clifton Road NE,
Atlanta, Georgia 30322