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Nationally Recognized Public Health Leader joins Partnership for a Healthier America

October 8, 2021

A headshot of Dr. Maya Maroto Washington, DCDr. Maya Maroto, a Registered Dietitian and nationally recognized leader in public health, nutrition, and food policy, has joined Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) and its leadership team as the organization aims to fulfill its recent commitment of providing 50 million servings of vegetables, fruits, and legumes to communities around the country by 2025.

Dr. Maroto will serve as Vice President for Federal, State, and Municipal Partnerships and will work with new and existing partners to ensure all families have access to healthy, sustainable food.

“Every family in America should have access to good food - food that is healthy, sustainable, high-quality, and culturally relevant,” said Nancy E. Roman, President & CEO, PHA. "Maya understands the critical need for food equity in our country and is ideally suited to engage partners in our work as we help families in every zip code access affordable, healthy food.”

Dr. Maroto came to PHA from ​​the Food and Drug Administration Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and the United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service where she managed nationwide nutrition education and outreach initiatives.

She has published articles on food insecurity and nutrition in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior and the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, has secured grants from Feeding America and American University, won awards from the USDA and FDA, and is currently a professor of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences at the Milken School of Public Health at George Washington University.

In her new role, Dr. Maroto will work with the CEO and leadership team to cultivate partnerships with federal, state, and local governments to expand PHA’s current and future programs in pursuit of food equity.

"As many as 40 million Americans lack affordable access to good food with devastating and predictable consequences,” said Dr. Maya Maroto, Vice President for Federal, State, and Municipal Partnerships, PHA. "I’m thrilled to join the leadership team as we make food equity a reality for millions of Americans through our programs and partnerships.”

Even though the US produces an ample supply of high-quality produce, tens of millions of Americans live in communities where access to vegetables, fruits and other healthy foods is either severely limited, non-existent, or financially unattainable.

Through its programs, vast convening power, diverse network, and thought leadership, PHA works to catalyze longer term sustained access to affordable, healthy food for all families in all parts of the country, ultimately driving food equity.

Join PHA today and sign the pledge to Fight for Food Equity in America.


ABOUT PARTNERSHIP FOR A HEALTHIER AMERICA

The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), founded in partnership with Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign in 2010, is the premier national nonprofit working to transform the food landscape in pursuit of health equity. PHA seeks partnerships that have the greatest potential to reduce health disparities. We do this using evidence-based approaches that drive systemic access to better food. In a decade of work, we have partnered with more than 300 corporations, convenience store chains, and distributors, hospitals, early childhood education centers, and SNAP-Ed implementing agencies, among others, in pursuit of our vision that all children grow up healthy and free from obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic conditions. Information about PHA’s Veggies Early & Often campaign please visit www.ahealthieramerica.org and follow PHA on Twitter @PHAnews.

Media Contact: Megan Orciari, morciari@ahealthieramerica.org

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