Douglas Taren, PhD

Professional Titles

• Professor

Research Interests

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

• Makhoul Z, Ndonji M, Long JM, Moore C, Lunda E, Mwandileya W, Taren D. The nutritional and feeding status of children living in selected residential child care facilities in Zambia: implications for programs and policies. Front Public Health. 2024;12:1331907. PubMed PMID: 39296847
• Williams D, Bouchard L, Giraldo I, Carstensen G, Kiser L, Acosta L, Buxbaum S, Wong A, Taren D. Burnout Reduction Strategies Using Mobile-Based Applications: The Creation and Development of the SANE Well App. J Forensic Nurs. 2024 Aug 20. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 39160659
• Buller DB, Sussman AL, Thomson CA, Kepka D, Taren D, Henry KL, Warner EL, Walkosz BJ, Woodall WG, Nuss K, Blair CK, Guest DD, Borrayo EA, Gordon JS, Hatcher J, Wetter DW, Kinsey A, Jones CF, Yung AK, Christini K, Berteletti J, Torres JA, Barraza Perez EY, Small A. #4Corners4Health Social Media Cancer Prevention Campaign for Emerging Adults: Protocol for a Randomized Stepped-Wedge Trial. JMIR Res Protoc. 2024 Feb 22;13:e50392. PubMed PMID: 38386396
• Long JM, Gatica-Domínguez G, Westcott JE, Taren D, Tejeda G, Diba TS, Mastiholi SC, Khan US, Garcés A, Figueroa L, Lokangaka A, Goudar SS, Aziz Ali S, Hambidge KM, Krebs NF. Infant and young child feeding indicators are positively associated with length and family care indicators in the children of the Women First trial participants. Matern Child Nutr. 2024 Jan;20(1):e13572. PubMed PMID: 37817452
• 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

Professional Memberships

• American Society of Nutrition, Member

Practice Locations

Children's Hospital Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
13123 East 16th Ave
Aurora, CO 80045
720-777-1234

Specialty Information

Specialties

• Pediatrics