Nutrition Science Groups

Several groups are engaged in collaborative nutrition-related activities at NIH. These activities facilitate the sharing of resources and expertise, and they foster communication and opportunities for collaboration within the NIH nutrition science community. To view a list of key groups with representation from the NIH please see Senior Leadership Group for the ONR and Nutrition Research Committees and Task Forces. For additional information on the ONR Thematic Working Groups, please contact ONR at [email protected].

Office of Nutrition Research Thematic Working Groups

The Office of Nutrition Research (ONR) established thematic working groups to achieve its goal of providing service and technical support to NIH institutes, centers, and offices (ICOs) and relevant agencies across the United States Government (USG). Each thematic working group is charged to take an ecological approach to their specific area of science – appreciating that nutrition is part of a holistic ecosystem and that humans are complex biological systems affected by both internal (e.g., biology, genetics, microbiome, health context, developmental stage) and external (e.g., household, community, school, physical, environmental) factors.

Food Is Medicine
This working group focuses on conceptualizing small- and large-scale activities that would be synergistic with other federal and nonfederal Food is Medicine efforts. Of particular interest to this working group is the impact of Food is Medicine efforts on health outcomes.

Microbiomes, Diet, and Health
This working group focuses on advancing research to better understand the diet-microbiome-host interrelationships. Topics of relevance to this working group include the interrelationships among diet, nutrients, and microbiomes (especially the gut and oral microbiomes) throughout the lifespan and health outcomes.

Nutrition and Health in Later Life
This working group focuses on advancing research addressing the role of nutrition in healthy aging. Topics of relevance to this working group include nutrition in the health of older adults, as well as nutrition and menopause.

Nutrition and Health in Pregnancy and Early Life
This working group focuses on advancing research to optimize nutrition and health during pregnancy, lactation, early life, and adolescence. Topics of relevance to this working group include human milk and infant feeding, as well as nutrition and reproductive health.

NIH and U.S. Government Nutrition-related Research Infrastructure
This working group focuses on the infrastructure and resources necessary to optimize nutrition research. This includes both existing and new NIH and U.S. government infrastructure and resources.

Diet, Nutrition, and Health Outcomes
This working group focuses on advancing research to better understand the interactions between diet, nutritional status, the environment, and biological and behavioral processes, and how they contribute to health outcomes among different individuals and populations across the lifespan. This working group will also address research on how to prevent and treat nutrition-related diseases for specific individuals and populations.

Analytical Approaches to Address Complexity to Support Clinical Care and Public Health 
This working group focuses on the identification and development of analytical approaches to address the complexities engendered by taking an ecological approach to nutrition-related research. This includes targeting the application of analytical approaches to clinical assessment, population surveillance, and best practices to ensure rigor and reproducibility of nutrition-related research with the goal of translation and implementation to support evidence-informed, equitable, and safe interventions, standards of care, and public health interventions.

Nutrition Workforce Development
This working group focuses on identifying opportunities to enhance diversity in the nutrition workforce across the educational and career spectrum. This effort will span training, mentoring, career development, novel research opportunities, and networking possibilities amongst other innovative ideas.

The Intersection of Food Systems, Diet, Nutrition, and Health in a Changing Environment
This working group focuses on advancing research addressing the reciprocal relationships between climate and environmental changes and nutrition. Topics of relevance to this working group include sustainability and dietary patterns as well as the relationships between food systems, planetary health, and human health.

For additional information on the Thematic Working Group efforts please contact ONR at [email protected].