In this episode of Repast, Michael and Diana welcome Dr. Caree Cotwright, the Director of Nutrition Security and Health Equity for the Food and Nutrition Service, USDA. In her role at USDA, Dr. Cotwright leads a whole-of-department approach at USDA to advance food and nutrition security, which is one of USDA Secretary Vilsacks five core priorities.

Dr. Cotwright is on leave from her position as an associate professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the College of Family and Consumer Science at the University of Georgia, where she has been since 2013. She received her undergraduate degree in biology from Howard University before moving on to UGA, where she completed her master’s and doctorate degrees in nutrition. At the University of Georgia, she conducted early childhood obesity prevention research efforts focusing on youth ages 0-5 using innovative and multidisciplinary methods.

Here, Dr. Cotwright notes how her personal background influenced her professional direction, and discusses the USDA’s approach to food and nutrition security, scaffolded by the four pillars of (1) providing meaningful nutrition support from pregnancy to birth and beyond; (2) working to connect everyone in this country with healthy, safe, affordable food sources; (3) developing, translating, and enacting nutrition science through partnership including the National MyPlate Strategic Partnerships, and (4) prioritizing equity every step of the way. She focuses on two specific programs—Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC, and the new summer EPT program, scheduled for roll-out in 2024—and how the USDA is working to make MyPlate a household symbol.

You can find Dr. Cotwright’s UGA profile here.

Michael T. Roberts is the Executive Director of the Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy at UCLA Law.

Diana Winters is the Deputy Director of the Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy at UCLA Law.

You can find more on the USDA’s approach to nutrition security here.

Learn about USDA’s MyPlate initiative here.

Follow the MyPlate Instagram at @myplate_gov.

Or email pictures of MyPlate in the wild or MyPlate feedback to Caree.Cotwright@usda.gov.

You can find the Repast episode with former Director of Nutrition Security and Health Equity, Dr. Sara Bleich, here.