Background
Violeta Chácon, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health whose work focuses on food security, nutrition policy, and school wellness. Chácon has a particular interest in how structural factors influence children’s health and access to nutritious food. Her research involves both quantitative and qualitative approaches and includes analyses of the links between food insecurity, housing instability, and health outcomes, and how charitable food systems implement nutritional ranking guidelines to ensure healthier food distribution.

Chácon’s interest in these links dates back to early in her career, when she spent two years working in an infectious disease clinic at one of the largest public hospitals in Guatemala, where she was providing nutritional counseling to patients who were experiencing food insecurity. That was when Chácon first became aware of the severity of the food insecurity crisis in Guatemala, her home country. “I spent a lot of time talking to patients facing food insecurity, who often did not know when or what their next meal was going to be, and that made me realize that much of my dietary advice was irrelevant as long as their underlying conditions remained,” she says. Chácon believed that the social determinants of health needed to be better addressed in public health research, which motivated her to pursue her Master’s in Public Health from the University of Chile and PhD in Food and Nutrition Policy from Tufts University.

Involvement with CSCH
Chácon was drawn to become an affiliate of the Collaboratory due to its work relating to the WellSAT WSCC school policy evaluation tool, which aligns with the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model. She finds it important to integrate all needs relating to child health and well-being, especially her particular interests in food policy and school nutrition, in school environments, and appreciates the hard work that the Collaboratory is doing to implement this model. “I wish for all children to be healthy, but this goal becomes more attainable if all aspects of the child’s physical and emotional needs are being met, especially in a school setting,” she says. Chácon is currently working in collaboration with CSCH to update items in the WellSAT WSCC in order to better assist school districts in evaluating their wellness policies. She is also working on a project in collaboration with the Connecticut State Department of Education to develop a tool for districts across Connecticut to evaluate farm-to-school practices.

You can learn more about Chácon and her research by visiting her Rudd Center Page.

Fun Facts

Chácon is an avid traveler and loves taking long-distance road trips… on a motorcycle! She and her husband have traveled to every country in Central America and have driven through nearly all of Mexico as well. As a food and nutrition professional, one of her favorite things about traveling is experiencing the various cultures through food. She loves to try new local cuisines in every place she visits.

Undergraduate Researcher Elena Roberts interviewed Violeta Chácon and wrote this profile.