Amos Laar, PhD

Associate Professor
University of Ghana
Legon, Greater Accra, Ghana

Prof. Laar has academic training in Nutrition, Public Health, and Bioethics. Currently, his research and professional practice straddle three distinct, yet related areas of public health: Bioethics (including food ethics, ethics & public health, health & human rights; Public Health Nutrition (including food environments, food systems, and nutrition-related non-communicable diseases); and Social Public Health (including how social forces, commercial forces, and structural violence influence realization of health). Through these, his work contributes to a deeper understanding of how physical environments, social environments, and structural factors affect health. He is an active researcher having served as Principal/Co-Investigator of over 20 successful research grants at the University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana. Currently, his scholarly works include over 90 scientific publications (books, six book chapters, and peer-reviewed journal articles). Prof. Laar has enormous experience in teaching and mentoring with cultural humility - having taught at various levels (bachelors, masters, and doctoral) at several universities across the world. He has supervised over 70 graduate and undergraduate students from universities in Africa (e.g. University of Ghana, University of South Africa), Europe (e.g. University of Sheffield, UK), Asia (e.g. Nagasaki University of Japan), and North America (e.g. University of South Carolina, USA). On service, Prof. Laar has advised the Government of Ghana on various aspects of public health and nutrition. He has also been engaged internationally, including participating in the 66th Session of the UN-General Assembly Meeting in New York, 2011. In 2021, he was nominated by the Ghana government as Co-Curator (together with Prof. Anna Lartey) of the United Nations Food Systems Summit Dialogues in Ghana. In July 2021, Prof. Laar was one of a 15-Member Ghana’s Delegation that contributed to the UN Food Systems Pre-Summit in Rome. He served as President of African Nutrition Association from 2016 - 2020. He served as a member of the Global Expert Panel, that supported the implementation of Rockefeller Foundation’s Food Systems Transformative Integrated Policy (FS-TIP) – in Ghana, Malawi, and Rwanda. He Principal Investigator of the IDRC-funded ‘MEALS4NCDs project’, which is providing Measurement, Evaluation, Accountability and Leadership Support for NCDs prevention in Ghana, as well as the IDRC/Rockefeller Foundation-funded ‘Healthier Diets 4 Healthy Lives (HD4HL) Project’, which aims to build evidence and mobilize multi-stakeholder actions toward policies for healthier and equitable consumer food environments that reduce the double burden of malnutrition in Ghana.

Presentation(s):

• Drivers of Food Choice and the Context of Changing Food Environments: Moving Beyond the “What” of Consumption to the “How” and the “Why”

  Wednesday, June 15, 2022
  2:00 PM – 3:30 PM ET

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

• Food Choice and Policy Implications: Perspective from Ghana

  Wednesday, June 15, 2022
  2:40 PM – 2:50 PM ET

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

• Panel Discussion - Drivers of Food Choice and the Context of Changing Food Environments: Moving Beyond the “What” of Consumption to the “How” and the “Why”

  Wednesday, June 15, 2022
  2:50 PM – 3:30 PM ET

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.