Jennifer Lerman, PhD, MPH, RDN

Biography

Jennifer Lerman, PhD, MPH, RDN, is a program management analyst in the Risk Factor Assessment Branch (RFAB) of the Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program (EGRP). In this role, she assists in program responsibilities related to population monitoring and assessment of food and nutrient intakes, methods to facilitate nutritional epidemiology, and evidence to support nutrition policy. She participates in RFAB activities such as the update of the Healthy Eating Index, the maintenance of the Automated Self-Administered 24-Hour Dietary Assessment Tool (ASA24), and the upkeep of several measures registries. Her interest areas include dietary assessment, dietary guidance and public health, and maternal and child health and nutrition.

Dr. Lerman’s current research includes the identification of factors associated with the trajectory of diet quality in infants and toddlers in the United States, as well as the exploration of methodological solutions for utilizing dietary indices to track diet quality longitudinally over time.

Dr. Lerman first joined EGRP as a Cancer Research Training Award fellow in 2016. Prior to her EGRP fellowship, she completed a practicum internship for her MPH in the Office of Nutrition Research at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). In addition, Dr. Lerman has worked as a neonatal dietitian and an adult oncologic dietitian in several clinical settings. Her work as a dietitian has often included a focus on nutrition education to adult and pediatric populations in addressing a wide variety of medical needs.

Select Publications

Herrick KA, Lerman JL. Evolution of dietary diversity: further consideration of contextual and multidimensional features. Adv Nutr. 2024. Online ahead of print.

Lerman JL, Herrick KA, Pannucci TE, et al. Evaluation of the Healthy Eating Index-Toddlers-2020. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2023;123(9):1307-1319.

Pannucci TE, Lerman JL, Herrick KA, et al. Development of the Healthy Eating Index-Toddlers-2020. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2023; 123(9):1289-1297.

Shams-White MM, Pannucci TE, Lerman JL, et al. Healthy Eating Index-2020: review and update process to reflect the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2023; 123(9):1280-1288.

Herrick KA, Lerman JL, Pannucci TE, et al. Continuity, considerations, and future directions for assessing diet from birth to 24 months. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2023; 123(9):1298-1306.

Zimmer M, Obbagy J, Scanlon KS, et al. Count every bite to make “every bite count”: measurement gaps and future directions for assessing diet from birth to 24 months. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2023; 123(9):1269-1279.

Gross SM, Lerman JL, Hurley KM, et al. Breastfeeding outcomes associated with the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children: a systematic review. Acad Pediatr. 2023; 23(2):244-260.

Landry MJ, Ruiz LD, Gibbs K, Radtke MD, Lerman J, Vargas AJ. Perspective: early-life nutrition research supported by the US National Institutes of Health from 2018 to 2020. Adv Nutr. 2022;13(5):1395-1401.

Venkataramani M, Ogunwole SM, Caulfield LE, et al. Maternal, infant, and child health outcomes associated with the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children: a systematic review. Ann Intern Med. 2022;175(10):1411-1422.

Liese AD, Wambogo E, Lerman JL, et al. Variations in dietary patterns defined by the Healthy Eating Index 2015 and associations with mortality: findings from the Dietary Patterns Methods Project. J Nutr. 2022;152(3):796-804.

Gross SM, Lerman JL, Hurley KM, et al. Breastfeeding outcomes associated with the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children: a systematic review. Acad Pediatr. 2022.

Vargas AJ, Sprow K, Lerman JL, Villani J, Regan KS, Ballard RM. Diet and physical activity prevention research supported by the U.S. NIH From 2012-2017. Am J Prev Med. 2019;57(6):818-825.

Krebs-Smith SM, Pannucci TE, Subar AF, et al. Update of the Healthy Eating Index: HEI-2015. J Acad Nutr Dietet. 2018;118(9):1591-1602.

Reedy J, Lerman JL, Krebs-Smith SM, et al. Evaluation of the Healthy Eating Index-2015. J Acad Nutr Dietet. 2018;118(9):1622-1633.

Kirkpatrick SI, Reedy J, Krebs-Smith SM, et al. Applications of the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) for surveillance, epidemiology and intervention research: Considerations and caveats. J Acad Nutr Dietet. 2018;118(9):1603-1621.

Subar AF, Kushi LH, Lerman JL, Freedman LS. Invited commentary: The contribution to the field of nutritional epidemiology of the landmark 1985 publication by Willett et al. Am J Epidemiol. 2017;185(11).1124-1129.

Lerman JL, Haslem J, Kim L, et al. Collected research on phytonutrients: Flavonoids. Journal of Culinary Science and Technology. 2015;13(3):214-241.

Lerman J. Food Preservation and Packaging. In: Sari Edelstein, ed. Food Science: An Ecological Approach. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett; 2014:495-523.