Dr. Melissa Laska is a Professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health at the University of Minnesota, where she also serves as Director of the Program in Public Health Nutrition and Co-Director of the Obesity Prevention Center. Dr. Laska’s PhD is in nutrition, and she is a Registered Dietitian. Her primary research interests are in modifiable and contextual determinants of obesity, eating behaviors and food environments, with particular interests in healthy food access in underserved communities. Her research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and American Heart Association. She has authored nearly 150 publications, which have been cited by researchers in every region of the world, including in scientific journals in 24 languages and more than 100 countries.