Posted 06/26/2006

Edward Frongillo named new chair of Department of HPEB

An internationally recognized educator and researcher in nutritional sciences has been named chair of the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior at the Arnold School of Public Health.

Edward Frongillo, an associate professor of public nutrition at Cornell University, will join the USC faculty in September, said Dean Donna Richter.

"We are very pleased that Dr. Frongillo will be joining us this fall,” Richter said. “His experience as director of Cornell's Program in International Nutrition has given him the skills needed to lead the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior and to advance the Arnold School's international endeavors.”

“His impressive record of research also positions him well to provide mentorship to junior faculty," added Richter, who was chair of HPEB from 1994 through 2003.

Frongillo has made several notable research contributions.  He and two colleagues in the mid-1990’s provided the epidemiological basis for the current understanding that more than half of all young child deaths are caused at least in part by malnutrition, dramatically altering thinking about the causes and solutions for the global tragedy of more than 10 million child deaths annually.

He was also part of the team that developed the new international growth standards for infants and young children just released in April.  The adoption of these standards will likely be the single most important factor in enhancing child survival during this decade.

In addition, he has been a principal contributor to the development of tools for the measurement of household food insecurity in the U.S. and globally.  His research with colleagues on the consequences of food insecurity has established that children in the U.S. who live in food-insecure households learn less during early school years and suffer a number of other developmental consequences.

 Frongillo was director for the Program in International Nutrition for seven years.  During that time he helped bring together faculty members, students, and staff to reinforce and contribute to a common vision and mission for the program.  He successfully recruited talented graduate students from developing countries, particularly from Africa. 

Frongillo’s appointment as chair comes following an extended national search by an Arnold School committee.  “I am excited about the opportunity to work with the faculty, staff, and students in HPEB.  It is a generally young department that is motivated and enthusiastic.  There is an opportunity for the department to grow from where it is now both in size and activity, and to contribute in important ways to the school and university while advancing the public’s health.  I am deeply committed to improving the welfare of the most disadvantaged people in our world, and look forward to sharing that commitment with like-minded colleagues at USC.”

A native of Boston,  Frongillo earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Brown University in 1975.  He earned two master’s degrees from Cornell, one in human nutrition  in 1980 and the other in biometry in 1987.   He then earned a doctorate from Cornell with a major in biometry in 1991.

He started work at Cornell in 1977 as a research assistant in the Division of Nutritional Sciences. In 1983 he was named director of the division’s Computing and Statistics Center, which grew to become the university’s Office of Statistical Consulting about ten years later.  He also was a researcher, consultant and administrator for the New York State Nutrition Surveillance Program and worked in Cornell Cooperative Extension for three years.

He became a senior research associate in 1991 and an associate professor in 1998. His activities included research in epidemiology, health, and nutritional sciences, teaching in research methods and epidemiology, and mentoring graduate and undergraduate students in research.

Besides his academic duties, Frongillo has been a consultant for the World Health Organization, the United Nations Childrens Fund, the World Bank, the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, other international and national organizations, and the private sector.

 Frongillo’s wife, Marguerite, will join him on the USC faculty.  She has a doctorate in entomology and has been working as a veterinary parasitologist.  She will be teaching in the Biology Department.  The couple has two adult sons, Dominic and Rafael.

Frongillo will succeed Ken Watkins, who has served as interim chair of HPEB since 2003.  Watkins will remain in the role of associate chair.