Diana G. Carvajal-Aldaz, PhD

Professor
Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Facultad Ciencias de la Vida, Ecuador

I am a Professor at ESPOL’s Life Sciences Department in the program of Nutrition and Dietetics. My research is focused on knowledge, attitudes, and practices about nutrition and food safety, and intestinal microbiota changes associated to eating habits. During my PhD training, I developed a background in molecular human nutrition, with specific training in vitro studies with pre-adipose rodent cells testing the effectiveness of biomolecules extracted from food to slow down or stop the process of differentiation into adipose cells. In addition, I have experience in vivo studies with different offspring of rodents to determine at the molecular level the benefits of consuming prebiotics such as resistant starch. I handle different laboratory techniques such as DNA extraction, real-time PCR, Western Blot, fatty acid analysis, among others. I am in continuing collaboration in peer-reviewed publications that were derivate from the experiments I was involved and in charge as a graduate student. After graduation, I came back to Ecuador and had a slowly start of my scientific career as an occasional professor for ESPOL due to maternity. Nevertheless, I had the opportunity to collaborate to the Ministry of Public Health of Ecuador in the elaboration of the Intersectoral Food and Nutrition Plan 2018-2025 and to the Manual for facilitators of the Food-Based Dietary Guidelines of Ecuador in conjunction with the Food and Agriculture Organization. Additionally, I took several continuing education courses to improve my skills in human nutrition, such as Certificate of Training in Research from Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND), Good Clinical Practice Training for Social and Behavioral Research from Society of Behavioral Medicine, and several courses about Evidence Based Practice from ACEND, Critical Appraisal Skills Program in Spanish and Spanish Academy in Nutrition and Dietetics. Lately, I have been working in the application of surveys of knowledge, attitudes, and practices about nutrition and food safety in several populations to determine gaps to be improved with health education sessions. In addition, I assist in scientific projects in the planning and the execution of the nutritional assessment in different stages of the life cycle, and statistical analysis of data in RStudio and SAS. In summary, I am a resilient and hardworking person, and I can work successfully in different sceneries of the nutrition field.

Ongoing projects that I would like to highlight include:

FCV-14-2021

Carvajal-Aldaz (PI)

January 2022 - Present

“Impact of the healthy breakfast program of the YO SIEMBRO foundation on the prevalence of malnutrition in children ≤ 5 years of age living in Guayaquil’s community of Monte Sinaí during the COVID-19 pandemic”.

FCV-38-2021

Ruiz-Barzola (PI), Role: co-investigator

August 2021 - Present

“Impact of the food and nutritional education program on the inhabitants of the Bellavista community at the gulf of Guayaquil”.

Poster(s):

• (PO15-10-22) Design of a Graphic Recipe Book to Improve Eating Habits Practices Based on the Local Cuisine of the Bellavista Commune of Guayaquil Gulf, Ecuador

• (PO15-11-22) Improving of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Towards Food Safety Among Caregivers in a Child Shelter in Ecuador to Provide Safe and Nutritious Meals

• (PO20-08-22) Impact of Nutrition Educational Program Aligned to Food Security Among Inhabitants of Monte Sinai Community, Guayaquil