Dr. Preidis is a physician-scientist at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital, where he is clinically trained in pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition. His laboratory seeks to to define mechanisms through which early life undernutrition alters metabolism and to determine how undernutrition influences intestinal and liver function. Undernutrition causes acute medical problems, but also long term health problems that may result from permanent epigenetic changes that alter transcription or via changes in the gut microbiome.

Arianna Zanolini is an impact evaluation expert working at the intersection between economics and public health in resource limited settings. She has a specific interest in maternal and child health, particularly early childhood development, and in HIV policies. She is currently based in Zambia, where she has been living since 2012. During her time in Zambia, Dr.

Alexis Medina is the Program Manager for Health and Nutrition at the Rural Education Action Program (REAP) at Stanford University. She has been researching the economics of social issues in China for over ten years. She has extensive experience in international program management, including leading survey teams in rural China, overseeing the design and development of field projects, and coordinating data collection and analysis. She has co-authored several academic publications on the intersection of health and education in rural China.

Dr. Bei Liu is Senior Program Manager at the China Development Research Foundation (CDRF), a Beijing-based policy research and advocacy organization founded by the Development Research Center (DRC) of the State Council. Her professional experiences concentrate on the design, implementation and evaluation of CDRF’s early childhood intervention programs. She currently works on China REACH, an integrated nutrition and psychosocial stimulation program for children at age 6-36 months. The project sites Dr.