Biography

Dr. Marissa Cloutier is an award-winning assistant professor and registered dietitian in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, College of Public Health at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. She has taught in higher education for over 20 years. Over the course of this time, Marissa has passionately and successfully brought the issue of climate change to the forefront of her nutrition, biology and public health-related curriculum. Her pedagogical approach has included related community service-learning and civic engagement projects.

To expand upon her abilities to educate about the nexus of nutrition, climate change and public health, Marissa proposed and was accepted to undertake a largely self-directed doctoral program at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, MA. Marissa’s doctoral studies were a compilation of atmospheric, water and agricultural sciences with epidemiology, biostatistics, nutrition science and environmental health courses. Her studies at Harvard culminated in a dissertation that correlated the healthfulness of global diets to impacts on climate change and international water resources. Marissa also holds a master of science degree in human nutrition and metabolism from Boston University (Boston, MA) and a bachelor of science degree in nutrition sciences from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (San Luis Obispo, CA).

Marissa grew up in the Central Valley of California, where her extended family grew grapes for the wine industry and ardently celebrated the consumption of foods from the earth. This instilled a zeal for health and nutrition that ignited Marissa’s career in dietetics and education. It also helped her become a successful freelance writer, most notably landing on The New York Times Best Seller list eight times for The Mediterranean Diet.

Marissa has appeared on television, radio and in print, and has enthusiastically delivered speeches in various venues espousing the need for healthful eating (especially in ways that preserve traditional cultural foods) for individual and planetary health. Anyone who has interacted with Marissa can attest to her infectious passion for celebrating health, community, the arts and each other.

Education

• ScD, Nutrition Science, Harvard University School of Public Health
• MS, Human Nutrition and Metabolism, Boston University
• Dietetic Internship, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston, MA)
• BS, Nutrition Sciences, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Curriculum Vitae