Dr. Taren has 30 years of experience conducting research and developing educational programs in low and middle-income countries. He has directed several graduate and post-graduate level training programs in colleges of medicine and public health. He has worked extensively on local food systems, the prevention of HIV transmission, infant growth, and maternal and child health. He has led studies using various nutritional assessment methods and survey techniques as part of clinical and epidemiological studies. He has served as a resource person for the World Health Organization Nutrition Guidance Expert Advisory Group Monitoring and Evaluation Subgroup, and the United States (US) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He has evaluated humanitarian aid programs for the United Nations World Food Program and the US Agency for International Development. His research and teaching have included fieldwork in Latin America, Africa, and South Asia. He has led several randomized control trials on nutrient and food supplementation. He was the principal investigator for an NIH-funded project to improve dietary methods, chaired the Fourth International Conference on Dietary Methods, and was the Co-Chair for the NIH Special Emphasis Panel on Diet and Physical Activity Methodologies. He also has led numerous trainings to standardize anthropometric measures for programs and research.
Publications
Varyvoda Y, Taren D. COP 27 insights to increase food-systems climate adaptation and resilience. Nutr Rev. 2023 Dec 11;82(1):1-4. PubMed PMID: 38073332
Short E, Thompson D, Taren D, Bryant H, Gonzalez R, Sheava J, Hingle M. Feasibility of a food-based diabetes self-management education intervention for food insecure patients with type 2 diabetes: a convergent mixed methods study. Public Health Nutr. 2023 Dec;26(12):3100-3111. PubMed PMID: 37759394
Godino JG, Samaniego JC, Sharp SP, Taren D, Zuber A, Armistad AJ, Dezan AM, Leyba AJ, Friedly JL, Bunnell AE, Matthews E, Miller MJ, Unger ER, Bertolli J, Hinckley A, Lin JS, Scott JD, Struminger BB, Ramers C. A technology-enabled multi-disciplinary team-based care model for the management of Long COVID and other fatiguing illnesses within a federally qualified health center: protocol for a two-arm, single-blind, pragmatic, quality improvement professional cluster randomized controlled trial. Trials. 2023 Aug 12;24(1):524. PubMed PMID: 37573421
Taren D, Alaofè H, Yamanaka AB, Coleman P, Fleming T, Aflague T, Shallcross L, Wilkens L, Novotny R. Diet and Acanthosis Nigricans over a Two-Year Period in Children of the Pacific Region. Nutrients. 2023 Jun 12;15(12). PubMed PMID: 37375623
Root AD, Pedersen LA, Cutshaw CA, Farland LV, Taren DL. Health Characteristics and Birth Outcomes for "Starting Out Right," a Teen Pregnancy Program. Matern Child Health J. 2023 Oct;27(10):1689-1696. PubMed PMID: 37249724
Varyvoda Y, Akseer N, Sadkoviy V, Carmona R, Muramoto M, Wazny K, San Martin T, Taren D. Ukraine's most vulnerable need healthcare: Priorities during the armed conflict. Public Health Pract (Oxf). 2022 Dec;4:100296. PubMed PMID: 36570404
Okusanya B, Nweke C, Gerald LB, Pettygrove S, Taren D, Ehiri J. Are prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission service providers acquainted with national guideline recommendations? A cross-sectional study of primary health care centers in Lagos, Nigeria. BMC Health Serv Res. 2022 Jun 11;22(1):769. PubMed PMID: 35689236
Varyvoda Y, Taren D. Considering Ecosystem Services in Food System Resilience. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Mar 19;19(6). PubMed PMID: 35329339
Short E, Kohler LN, Taren D, Gonzalez R, Roe DJ, Hingle M. Diet Quality Following Food Pantry Visit Differs by Ethnicity. J Hunger Environ Nutr. 2022;17(1):69-84. PubMed PMID: 35280518
Okusanya B, Kimaru LJ, Mantina N, Gerald LB, Pettygrove S, Taren D, Ehiri J. Interventions to increase early infant diagnosis of HIV infection: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2022;17(2):e0258863. PubMed PMID: 35213579
Bouchard L, Williams D, Kiser L, Freese E, Taren D. Promoting Professional Quality of Life and Resiliency in Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners. J Forensic Nurs. 2022 Jan-Mar 01;18(1):13-20. PubMed PMID: 35170881
Short E, Sharma J, Thompson DI, Taren D, Gonzalez R, Hingle M. Food Assistance Use Among Food Bank Clients Affected by Type 2 Diabetes. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2022 Apr;54(4):288-298. PubMed PMID: 35034840
Taren D, Varyvoda Y, Long J, and the FSN-IL Consortium Partners. Theme 2: Post-Farmgate Food Processing, Food Packaging and Food Storage. Scoping Exercise Report. Food Systems for Nutrition Innovation Lab, Tufts University, Boston. August 15, 2022
Varyvoda Y, Taren D (2022). Advancing Food System Resilience by Pseudocereals Utilization. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Energy and Environmental Engineering 16(11):1. https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/144413/advancing-food-system-resilience-by-pseudocereals-utilization.
Taren D, Akseer N, Davis CD, Miller JW, Moustaid-Moussa N, Novotny R, Slupsky CM, Saroja Voruganti V, Cameron JM. Eighty years of nutritional sciences, and counting. Nutr Rev. 2021 Dec 8;80(1):1-5. PubMed PMID: 34891168
Chebet JJ, Ehiri JE, McClelland DJ, Taren D, Hakim IA. Effect of d-limonene and its derivatives on breast cancer in human trials: a scoping review and narrative synthesis. BMC Cancer. 2021 Aug 6;21(1):902. PubMed PMID: 34362338
Brooks AJ, Maizes V, Billimek J, Blair J, Chen MK, Goldblatt E, Kilgore D, Klatt M, Kligler B, Koithan MS, Kreitzer MJ, Lee JK, Lopez AM, Taren D, Lebensohn P. Professional development in integrative health through an interprofessional online course in clinical settings. Explore (NY). 2021 Nov-Dec;17(6):505-512. PubMed PMID: 32229083
Varyvoda V, Cederstrom T, Borberg J, and Taren D. (2021). Enabling Food Safety
Entrepreneurship: exploratory case studies from Nepal, Senegal and Ethiopia. Frontiers
in Sustainable Food Systems 27 September 2021.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.742908
Short E, Kohler LN, Taren D, Gonzalez R, Roe DJ, Hingle M. (2021). Diet Quality
Following Food Pantry Visit Differs by Ethnicity, Journal of Hunger and Environmental
Nutrition DOI: 10.1080/19320248.2020.1860849.
Taren, D. & Varyvoda, Y. Technical input from Lauretti-Bernhard, R. and Eason, J. (2021). Food Safety and Nutrition: Feedback from the Field. A report produced for Feed the Future Business Drivers for Food Safety, funded by USAID, and implemented by Food Enterprise Solutions. Arlington, Virginia, USA. https://agrilinks.org/sites/default/files/media/file/BD4FS-FS-Nutrition-TLN-Taren-FINAL-20210805.pdf
Brooks AJ, Chen MK, Goldblatt E, Klatt M, Kligler B, Koithan MS, Kreitzer MJ, Lee JK, Lopez AM, Maizes V, Sandvold I, Taren D, Lebensohn P. Introducing integrative primary health care to an interprofessional audience: Feasibility and impact of an asynchronous online course. Explore (NY). 2020 Nov - Dec;16(6):392-400. PubMed PMID: 31980372
Short E, Sharma J, Thompson DI, Taren D, Gonzalez R, Hingle M. Using the tools that
they’re giving us to make better choices”: Food Assistance Use Among Food Bank
Clients Affected by Type 2 Diabetes. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behaivor.
Okusanya B, Kimaru LJ, Mantina N, Gerald LB, Pettygrove S, Taren, D, Ehiri J.
(2021). Interventions to increase early infant diagnosis of HIV infection: a systematic
review and meta-analysis PLOS One
Bouchard L, Williams, D, Kiser L, Freese E, Taren D. (2021) Promoting Professional
Quality of Life and Resiliency in Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners. Journal of Forensic
Nursing