As a teenager, Casey Rebholz traveled to Argentina for a summer study abroad program. “I really liked studying languages,” she says. “You learn a lot about yourself when you travel, and language let me explore the world and my place in it.” But if this marked the beginning of Rebholz’s love of travel, it was also the beginning of an interest in the way individuals are shaped by food systems. “Argentina is the cattle and beef capital of the world,” she says, both in terms of production and consumption. “It made the connection between animals and food very clear to me. How the choices we make impact our diet.”

Casey M. Rebholz, PhD

Rebholz went to Tufts University for her undergraduate degree, where she majored in biology and Spanish. She was accepted into the Peace Corps after college but ultimately turned it down to study epidemiology and international health at Boston University School of Public Health. During this time, she made another series of formative trips abroad.

“I became involved with the Sister Cities Project, pairing Brookline, Massachusetts, with Quezalguaque, Nicaragua,” Rebholz says. “We received grant funding and did a handwashing intervention to reduce respiratory infection. I took lead on methods and implementation, so I was able to combine epidemiology with my interest in travel.”

Rebholz went on to earn a doctorate in cardiovascular disease epidemiology from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans. She is currently an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where her research focuses on improving metabolic health outcomes through nutrition.

“One goal is to improve the measurement of dietary intake. The current tools available to us are problematic because of measurement error and recall bias, so I’d like to find more objective biomarkers,” Rebholz says. “In turn, this will help us to better understand the underlying biology of how diet impacts disease and inform strategies for treatment or prevention.

“Then we can build evidence on dietary strategies that are helpful for preventing disease, and slowing the progression of disease for people who already have it,” she adds. “Whether that’s kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, or diabetes.”

By identifying ideal dietary strategies, Rebholz hopes to give individuals a low-cost way to manage their own health and to provide frontline solutions for people who live in parts of the world with less access to expensive medical treatments.

“People want ways to control their own health on their own terms, and they’re exposed to food every day at multiple points,” she says. “It’s empowering to provide evidence which lets individuals have that control.”

While the science is complex, these dietary strategies can focus on the familiar. Among Rebholz’s favorite meals in Latin America? Rice and beans.

“It’s served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and it’s great,” she remembers. “Satisfying, filling.

Nutritious, with a complete amino acid profile. Really delicious, affordable food.”

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