Dr. Meredith Niles is an Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, as well as the Acting Director of the Gund Institute for Environment and Associate Director of the Food Systems Research Center at The University of Vermont. Prior to her academic career, Meredith worked for the United States Department of State in HIV/AIDS public health and for several food and environmental non-profit organizations.
Meredith thrives conducting applied research that can help bring together diverse stakeholders- from farm to federal agency- to help solve pressing problems facing our world's food system. Meredith is an interdisciplinary food systems scientist whose research focuses on achieving sustainable food security and improving health and environmental outcomes from food systems. Her primary areas of focus include sustainable food production with farmers and food and nutritional security during crises, including climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. Meredith is deeply committed to ensuring academic research is available to the public and stakeholders to meet a land-grant mission, evidenced through policy briefs and open science principles. Meredith has received notable honors and recognition for her research, most recently being named an Emerging Leader in Health and Medicine Scholar for 2022-2025 by the National Academy of Medicine.
