Where a person lives shouldn’t determine how long or how well they live. Unfortunately, in many communities, there are persistent barriers to health and opportunity to thrive. All communities should have conditions that enable people to live the healthiest life possible, such as access to healthy food, quality schools, stable housing, good jobs with fair pay, and safe places to exercise and play. Research in this area focuses on cross-sector strategies that make healthy choices available, culturally-relevant, affordable, and equitable.
Research & Publications See all
April 2026
Policy Priorities and Research Needs for Advancing Healthy Eating: A 2026-2027 Research Agenda for U.S. Children and Adolescents
Given recent changes to nutrition policies and programs and the food environment landscape, the need for new evidence on how these changes impact nutrition, health, and food access is greater than ever. HER has also published a research agenda intended to provide a blueprint for immediate (i.e., 12-18 month) research needs to inform strategies to More
November 2025
Measuring the impact of charitable food program cuts on the nutritional quality of foods
This study examines how sudden cuts to USDA programs supporting the charitable food system (i.e., The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement (LFPA)) affect the supply of healthy food available for distribution by food banks. Existing data from 15 food banks will be analyzed, and additional data will More
November 2025
Unveiling the Layers of Stigma Related to Utilization of Food Assistance and Free Food Programs
This study conducted a comprehensive literature review to understand the dimensions of stigma associated with both government food program utilization (i.e., SNAP, WIC) and non-profit administered free food programs (i.e., emergency food programs such as food banks, pantries, and cupboards) and to examine the effectiveness of existing stigma reduction interventions in the context of food More
November 2025
Building a National Research Agenda
Long-Term Research Agenda The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) commitment to child obesity ends in December 2025, marking the conclusion of a two-decade investment in Healthy Eating Research (HER). As part of our RWJF legacy, HER is developing a national research agenda for policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) interventions and strategies to promote food and More