Rutgers Health Researcher Joachim D. Sackey Working to Reduce Food Insecurity Wins Award
May 16, 2024
When Joachim D. Sackey joined the Department of Clinical and Preventive Nutrition Sciences at the Rutgers School of Health Professions in 2017, something about the Newark student body worried him: Were they food insecure?
It’s a common concern on college campuses – and not only for experts in nutritional epidemiology, like Sackey. Food insecurity, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture defines as reduced or limited access to adequate, quality nutrition, affects about 13 percent of American households. Among college students, rates can be as high as 40 percent.
To gauge the situation at Rutgers, Sackey surveyed 302 graduate students of health sciences. His findings – that 28.5 percent of respondents were food insecure – led Sackey to work with university leadership to create a food pantry for the Rutgers Health community in Newark.