Victoria Adebiyi has big goals. The Ph.D. in Health Promotion Education and Behavior (HPEB) candidate plans to improve maternal and child nutrition and health in low-
and middle-income countries after her 2025 graduation – continuing the path she began
a decade ago in Nigeria.
As an undergraduate at the University of Ibadan, Adebiyi became interested in public
health nutrition when one of her courses introduced the various related challenges
her country faced. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in human nutrition, she
completed a hospital-based internship to become a registered dietitian.
“The burden of preventable diet-related chronic diseases that I encountered during
my dietetics training only fueled my passion to study public health nutrition to understand
how to prevent such diseases on a broader scale, beyond the individual level,” Adebiyi
says.
With a scholarship from the Mastercard Foundation, she enrolled in a master of public
health program at the University of California, Berkeley. During this time, she became
involved with the School of Law’s Health and Human Rights Program and interned with
Save the Children International over a summer back in Nigeria.
When looking for doctoral programs. Adebiyi sought a setting with researchers involved
in global nutrition work where she could explore her growing interests in maternal
and child nutrition and health. The Arnold School’s HPEB department hit the mark,
and she found mentors in faculty members Leila Larson and Edward Frongillo.
“I am grateful for the immense academic and professional support I have received from
my mentors since the beginning of my program at USC,” Adebiyi says. “Under their supervision,
I have been able to study the determinants and consequences of food insecurity and
anemia among women and children globally, especially in limited-income contexts, and co-author
peer-reviewed publications.”
She credits their support in her successful procurement of funding for her dissertation
research. With a training grant from the Nestlé Foundation, Adebiyi is researching
how mothers in urban Nigeria make breastfeeding decisions upon returning to work after
childbirth.
“This is a very competitive award, and Victoria worked hard to earn it,” says Larson.
“As part of her dissertation, she is conducting her own mixed methods research in
Nigeria, interviewing postpartum women and their social networks. The World Health
Organization recommends exclusively breastfeeding children until six months of age,
but for many working women, whether it be urban Nigeria or Columbia, South Carolina,
this is a personal and often hidden struggle.”
Adebiyi plans to continue this type of research after completing her degree. Working
with a research institute, international non-governmental organization or in academia,
her goal is to design and implement evidence-based interventions to improve maternal
and child nutrition and health in Sub-Saharan Africa and other low- and middle-income
settings. She is also interested in working with governments in the Global South to
scale up existing evidence-based interventions and develop food policies to combat
malnutrition.
At USC, Adebiyi has taken on leadership positions with the Maternal and Child Health
Student Association, where she coordinated a student-faculty event, and the International
Student and Global Health Forum, where members share their cultures, health systems
and visions for their countries. At the national level, Adebiyi is student representative
for the Global Nutrition Council of the American Society of Nutrition. She has enjoyed
living in SC's capital city and the supportive campus community.
“I have been exposed to and learned a lot from students from different cultures both
in and out of classes,” says Adebiyi, who also has advice for academic success. “Find
and connect with professors whose research interests align with yours and who will
propel you to think critically and support you all through your program. There is
a plethora of such professors who are very supportive of students’ progress in the
HPEB department, so consider applying!”