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Ronette R. Briefel
Senior Fellow
Ronette Briefel is a senior fellow in Mathematica's Washington, DC, office. She is an expert in dietary and nutrition assessment and population-based strategies to prevent disease and promote health. Briefel's expertise covers childhood obesity, food insecurity, chronic disease epidemiology, and analysis and interpretation of national survey data to study low-income and high-risk populations.
Briefel has led national studies on the food consumption patterns and nutrient intakes of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers; evaluations of the school food environment, school meals, and children’s diet and obesity; and evidence-based reviews of children’s dietary guidance. She also serves as a corporate adviser and reviewer for research in the areas of nutrition, obesity, and public health.
In 2012, Briefel was named to the External Scientific Panel of the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR). Through enhanced coordination and collaboration, its funders—the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)—work to halt and reverse childhood obesity in the United States.
Briefel has served on three committees of the Institute of Medicine—the Committee on Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake in the United States, the Committee on Dietary Risk Assessment in the WIC Program, and the Committee on National Statistics Project on Enhancing the Data Infrastructure in Support of Food and Nutrition Programs, Research, and Decision Making. She held several nutrition research and nutrition policy positions with the CDC and the NHANES program before joining the firm in 1999.
Briefel was the 2011 recipient of the Elaine Monsen Nutrition Research Award, which recognizes an outstanding body of research literature in the field of dietetics, food, and nutrition, from the American Dietetic Association Foundation. She presents and publishes widely in peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Journal of Nutrition, American Journal of Public Health, Journal of the American Medical Association, and others. She is a member of the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and American Society for Nutrition, and has a Dr.P.H. in chronic disease epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh and is a registered dietician.
Staff Profile
- Areas of Expertise
- Key Projects
- Professional Activities
- Publications
- Childhood obesity
- Food security
- Dietary and nutrition assessment; nutrition monitoring and surveillance
- Public health
- Evaluation of the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children Demonstrations
- 2008 and 2002 Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study (FITS)
- National Study of School Food Environment and Policies
- Study of Adaptation of Adult-Based Dietary Guidelines for Children: Current Practice, Knowledge Gaps, and Policy Implications
- Member, National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR) External Scientific Panel
- Member, Institute of Medicine committees: the Committee on Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake in the United States, the Committee on Dietary Risk Assessment in the WIC Program, and the Committee on National Statistics Project on Enhancing the Data Infrastructure in Support of Food and Nutrition Programs, Research, and Decision Making
- Member, American Society for Nutrition and Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
- "New Findings from the Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study: Data to Inform Action." Journal of the American Dietetic Association (December 2010)
- "Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake in the United States." Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (April 2010)
- "School Food Environments and Practices Affect Dietary Behaviors of US Public School Children." Journal of the American Dietetic Association (July 2009)