Ana Clara Duran

Dr. Ana Clara Duran is a Research Scientist at the Center for Food Studies and Research (NEPA) and an Associate Professor in the Graduate Program of Collective Health at the School of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil. She is also a Research Fellow at the Center for Epidemiological Studies in Nutrition and Health (NUPENS) at the University of São Paulo. She holds a PhD in Public Health Nutrition from the University of São Paulo, with visiting doctoral training in Social Epidemiology at the University of Michigan, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Illinois. Her research bridges nutrition, epidemiology, and public policy, with a particular focus on food systems and food policy evaluation in Latin America. Her main research interests include the design and evaluation of policies that promote healthy, equitable, and sustainable diets such as public food procurement, school feeding programs, food labeling, and fiscal measures;  as well as the role of governance and women’s leadership in food systems transformation. She leads and collaborates on several national and international projects funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). Dr. Duran has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed papers published in leading journals such as Public Health Nutrition, Food Policy, PLOS Medicine, and The Lancet Global Health. Her work has informed debates on food policy and regulatory strategies across Latin America and beyond.