Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is the New Jersey Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health?
The new Institute is a university-wide enterprise that brings faculty and staff together to work on large multidisciplinary research projects in the areas of food, nutrition and health that no one person or department could undertake on its own. The Institute conducts multidisciplinary, mission-oriented, research in areas of unmet need that best leverages its academic capacity and competencies. As its first strategic initiative, the Institute is focusing on childhood obesity.
Why is obesity such an important issue to address at this time?
Obesity is one of the nation's most pressing health issues. Over the past several decades, obesity rates--regardless of age, sex, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education level, or geographic region--have increased markedly. The Centers for Disease Control report that more than one-third of U.S. adults (over 72 million people) and 17 percent of U.S. children are obese. From 1980 to 2008, obesity rates doubled for adults and tripled for children.
What is most disturbing is that as the obesity rates continue to increase, the associated risks for many serious chronic diseases and premature death follow--for children as well as adults. Obesity can reduce the quality of life and increases the risk for coronary heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers.
In 2001, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity. By 2007, no state had met the Healthy People 2010 objective to reduce obesity prevalence among adults to 15 percent. A 2010 assessment of the Healthy People 2010 goals found that, despite having originally identified overweight and obesity as 1 of 10 leading health indicators and calling for reductions in the proportion of children and adolescents who are overweight or obese, the United States had made little progress toward the target goal.
Very much so. In New Jersey, nearly a quarter of school-age children, or 23.3 percent, are obese. A 2004 statewide study using school health data reported that 20 percent of sixth grade students were obese and 19 percent of sixth grade students were overweight. Nationwide, approximately 12 percent of preschool children (aged 2- to 5-years-old) are obese and 16 percent are considered at risk for becoming overweight. In New Jersey, the risk is higher. The CDC reported the rate of obesity among NJ preschoolers second highest in the nation at 17.9 percent. New Jersey and the nation cannot afford to allow this alarming trend of childhood obesity to continue.
Over many years, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, has developed significant intellectual and practice-based capital to address this significant challenge. Now the university seeks to engage New Jersey residents more actively in thinking about and acting on their food and nutrition choices, to help ensure that they live healthier lives. Through the newly established Institute, Rutgers is drawing together its nationally ranked programs in food science and policy, nutrition, agriculture, genetics and health into one integrated physical hub to advance our growing understanding of how diet and genetics determine health outcomes and lifelong well-being.
What role can the Institute play in addressing obesity nationwide?
The Institute will bring together visionary scientists with community-based partners who strive to eliminate chronic diseases due to childhood obesity and poor nutrition. Research will help to shape policy and drive advances in public health through an integrated system that connects knowledge of food production, process, distribution, and consumption with research in human nutrition and behavior. The Institute will become the principal source for innovative research, human-centered solutions, and timely information about urban wellness education. We look forward to a time when the term “healthy” is one of the standard descriptors used to describe ethnically diverse cities.
How will Rutgers pay for this new Institute?
The Institute has been established with a $10 million lead gift from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and another $10 million research endowment from a generous anonymous benefactor. The RWJF gift has made it possible to conceive, plan, and design a new building to house the Institute; the university is also committing $45 million toward the building's completion. The anonymous gift helps to establish the Institute's research program. Rutgers will seek additional funding from private donors through Our Rutgers, Our Future, a campaign to raise an unprecedented $1 billion in support for the university to fund faculty and research, students and learning, university and community programs, and campuses and facilities.
Where is the Institute located?
The Institute is strategically located on Rutgers' George H. Cook campus in New Brunswick NJ. This campus is the home of the School of Environmental Sciences that includes many academic departments that are central to the success of the Institute notably the Departments of Food Science and Nutritional Sciences, and centers of excellence such as the Center for Advanced Food Technology and the Food Policy Institute. Presently the Institute has its offices in the Food Science building located at 63 Dudley Road, Suite 122, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8520.
Will the Institute have its own building?
In the near future, the Institute will be housed in a state-of-the art research facility located adjacent to the Food Science building. Scientists will have the opportunity to work in multidisciplinary interdependent research neighborhoods in modular open-space research laboratories supported by core laboratories in nutritional metabolomics to culinology, clinical research facilities, a human performance center, a nutritional pre-school, a conference center and a healthy eating courtyard.
Although still in its early stages of planning and development, the Institute is already operational within the university community. The Institute is currently sponsoring conferences, administering research grants, and hosting special events.
How will New Jersey residents and/or communities benefit from this initiative?
The Institute will have a major, transformative impact - from educating a new cadre of professionals, to generating and disseminating new research, to formulating new policy related to food security and access, and implementing intervention programs based on the best available scientific evidence. By integrating these related areas, the Institute will serve as a national and global model by providing comprehensive solutions that will pave new ground on issues related to food, health, and nutrition. The Institute will also be a place for the community to learn more about nutrition and health, meet scientists, and see our best science on display.
Will the impact of this initiative go beyond New Jersey?
This new initiative embraces Rutgers' new motto – Jersey Roots, Global Reach. New Jersey is often viewed as a microcosm of the world and a laboratory for population-based studies and interventions. While the Institute's work will have international implications, its impact will be felt first and foremost in New Jersey. Furthermore, the State's diverse population, varied landscape, geographic location, and pharmaceutical and service industries make it a natural location for scientists interested in developing local, regional, national, and global solutions for lowering the incidence of chronic illnesses. Diabetes, heart disease, and cancer could be diminished if our citizens not only understood the importance of healthy diet and exercise, but if they also had access to fresh and wholesome foods.
Dr. Peter J Gillies is the Founding Director of the Institute. He holds a B.Sc. in biochemistry and a Ph.D. in medical sciences from McMaster University in Canada. His research interests include lipid metabolism, molecular nutrition and nutritional genomics. Dr. Gillies joined the leadership team at Rutgers in March of 2010 after a successful career at E.I. DuPont de Nemours. While at DuPont, he held a succession of leadership positions including Director of Atherosclerosis Research for DuPont-Merck, Science Officer of DuPont Consumer Health, and DuPont Fellow, the company's highest scientific rank, in DuPont Applied BioSciences. Although his professional career unfolded in the private sector, Dr. Gillies is no stranger to academia. While at DuPont he was an Adjunct Professor at The Pennsylvania State University and the University of Toronto where he supervised Ph.D. students and post-doctoral fellows. Dr. Gillies is an elected fellow of the American Heart Association and the Society of Toxicology; he is also a member of several professional organizations including the American Society of Nutrition and the National Lipid Association. In addition to his responsibilities at the Institute, Dr. Gillies is a Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences.