Institute focuses on global nutrition policy impact

Cornell's Division of Nutrition is hosting the 4th annual WHO/Cochrane/Cornell University Summer Institute for Systematic Reviews in Nutrition for Global Policy Making July 24 to Aug. This year's participants include 29 experts from around the world, and 10 faculty members from the World Health Organization (WHO), Cornell University and Cochrane, a global independent network of researchers, professionals, patients, caregivers, and people interested in health. "The participants are working on systematic reviews that will provide evidence on important questions about the role of nutrition in health, many of which will be used in WHO guidelines on nutrition," said Patricia Cassano, professor of nutritional sciences and Summer Institute director. Lee Hooper, an editor for the Cochrane Heart Group, member of the WHO Nutrition Guidance Expert Advisory Group and an institute faculty member, said systematic reviews "help us understand where we are in nutrition today, and understand better how to go out and do the right thing to improve people's health through nutrition." "What is lovely about this institute is that we see people picking up the skills to go out and answer really important questions where we haven't got, at the moment, a very good evidenced underpinning. This evidence is going to be taken forward by WHO; it will allow them to go out and actually run really good programs in the real world," she said.