We are delighted to announce Nancy Krebs, MD '87, MS, professor of pediatrics in the Section of Nutrition, has been named a 2024 Goalkeepers Champion by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and will be honored later this month in New York City. This year marks the eighth anniversary of Goalkeepers, with the focus of Nutrition: Innovations to ensure global health and nourishment in a rapidly warming world.
Nutrition-related diseases pose significant threats to survival, health and well-being, particularly for the youngest and most vulnerable populations. In the United States, 47 million people and 6.5 million households with children are food insecure, 100 million adults and 14 million children live with obesity, and one third of 12–21-year-olds have iron deficiency. Globally, one-third of humanity faces malnutrition and 38.1% have obesity. The clustering and intersection of both diseases referred to as a “Syndemic” is a widespread global health crisis that demands our action.
In an event that brings together global activists, community changemakers and world leaders alongside the United Nations General Assembly, the Goalkeepers initiative showcases ten individuals whose outstanding contributions in research, advocacy and policy are addressing one of the world's most urgent challenges through the inaugural Goalkeepers Champions List.
Dr. Nancy Krebs and her team are making strides at the intersection of diet, health and environment by tackling the complex challenges climate change presents to maternal, infant and child health. Following the largest preconception nutrition trial to date, her team discovered the impact of extreme heat exposure on pregnant women, marking the first trial to demonstrate that improved nutrition can alleviate the effects of extreme heat brought on by climate change. Considering the warming planet, Krebs advocates for a holistic approach to maternal health that emphasizes nutrition, including micronutrients, social and emotional support, and education for women.
For the past four decades, the Pediatric Nutrition Lab at the University of Colorado School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics, led by Krebs, has been at the forefront of state-of-the-art stable isotope studies of micronutrient bioavailability, along with infant and young child feeding studies in Denver, nationally and internationally. Since 2002, the group has participated in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)’s Global Network for Women’s and Children’s Health Research, collaborating on multi-country studies aimed at improving the health and development of women and children in low- and middle-income countries.
More on the Section of Nutrition
Established in 1993, the CU School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics Section of Nutrition was the first independent program dedicated to addressing and promoting best practices for nutrition and physical activity with a focus on disease, health and well-being for infants and children.
Through clinical services, research, education, community outreach and advocacy, the section offers a wealth of expertise in obesity, undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, the three core nutrition areas recognized by the World Health Organization. Areas of emphasis include climate effects on nutrition, health equity/disparities, food as medicine, precision nutrition, brain-gut mechanisms, obesity interventions, developmental origins of adult disease, and drivers of eating behavior. The Section of Nutrition has a strong commitment to research and education. In 2024, the section had over $24 million in research funding; and their nutrition training programs include the nation’s longest-serving NIH-funded T32 program.
K. Michael Hambidge, MD, ScD, professor emeritus, an internationally renowned investigator and physician, was appointed as section head in 1993 followed by Nancy Krebs who served as the section head for 25 years beginning in 1998. In 2023, her successor, Ihuoma Eneli, MD, MS, professor of pediatrics and a nationally recognized expert in childhood obesity began her tenure as section head.