From March 1 to June 30, 2022, Marly Augusto Cardoso served as UC Davis’ inaugural Fulbright Chair from Brazil. A senior scientist from the University of São Paulo, Cardoso specializes in child and maternal nutrition in the Amazon—expertise that brought her to the UC Davis Department of Nutrition and helped immerse her in the larger university community.

“The World Food Center in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences worked with Global Affairs and the Fulbright Commission in Brazil to attract the first Fulbright Chair who is a senior scientist. This provides a special opportunity for the Fulbright chair to be immersed in the Department of Nutrition and the overall UC Davis community and explore ways to establish a long-lasting relationship. I am sure there will a lot more collaboration between the Fulbright Chair and faculty in Nutrition department and Institute for Global Nutrition as well as the campus in general,” says Ermias Kebreab, director of the UC Davis World Food Center.

One of the key outcomes of Fulbright Chairs is to emphasize partnership building and the desire to deepen ties between scholars and institutions.  Cardoso collaborated with UC Davis Professor Christine Stewart, director of the Institute for Global Nutrition on a research proposal for the World Health Organization’s Noncommunicable Disease Lab titled “Family-based text-messaging intervention to prevent obesity and promote healthy eating behaviors among Amazonian school children.”

“Our proposal to provide technical support for the Amazon area using WhatsApp messages in each cohort study aims to promote healthy diets among school children and their families,” says Cardoso. “With so many social inequalities, some children have excessive weight, so we are focusing on how to promote health diets to prevent severe weight gain.”

In addition to completing the research proposal with Stewart, the Fulbright fellowship also afforded Cardoso the time to analyze data from her cohort in the Amazon. She found that children whose families were food insecure and were impacted by the pandemic were more likely to get sick. In addition, the clinical signs of COVID-19 were more evident among children whose families faced food insecurity.

Teaming Up Around the World

During her four-month placement, Cardoso also got the chance to meet a visiting Fulbright Chair from Japan who was conducting a similar Amazon-based cohort study at UC Berkeley.

“Because of the Fulbright Program, we are now planning to work together with my colleagues at UC Davis and share our research,” she says. “It’s quite interesting to know what is going on in different disciplines in different regions of the world because we are all connected globally through our work in some way.”

While Cardoso was initially scheduled for the 2020–21 Fulbright cycle, her placement was postponed due to COVID-19. Although the pandemic limited social opportunities for visiting Fulbrighters to connect to academic life, Cardoso says Global Affairs and the International House Davis made an effort to provide her with opportunities to share and integrate her research activities with her host community.

Between March and June, Cardoso delivered seminars and lectures to students on maternal and child health in the Brazilian Amazon through the Graduate Group in Nutritional Biology seminar series and the Institute of Global Nutrition weekly seminars.

“Thanks to my time at UC Davis, one of my Ph.D. students in Brazil is now planning an internship with Elizabeth Prado at the Institute for Global Nutrition,” she says. “We expect to maintain our Fulbright connection in the future with exchange students, Ph.D. students and even grad students.”

She also initiated further collaborative research, teaching and service activities in support of UN SDG 2: Zero Hunger.

“Goal 2 seeks sustainable solutions to end hunger in all its forms by 2030 and to achieve food security,” she says. “As a Fulbright Chair, I’ve already been able to facilitate the invitation for the University of Sao Paulo to be part of the SDG Goal 2 consortium being led by UC Davis and EARTH University in Costa Rica.”

By addressing the impact of poverty in all forms, achieving food security, improved nutrition and a healthy life all may still be attainable by 2030, she says.

“I expect the results of the proposal on child health will contribute to the definition of priorities for international policies to promote adequate child nutrition and development aimed at reducing inequalities globally.”

How To Apply

Consistently ranked among the top universities hosting and producing Fulbright scholars and students, UC Davis strengthens international leadership, education and research collaborations in partnering with the Fulbright Program. 

Established in 1946 and sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, the Fulbright Program aims to increase mutual understanding between the United States and other countries, through the exchange of persons, knowledge and skills—and through funding students, scholars and professionals in undertaking graduate study, advanced research, university teaching and teaching in elementary and secondary schools.

There are a variety of program opportunities for Fulbright U.S. Scholars and Fulbright Visiting (non U.S.) Scholars. Opportunities are also available through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program and the Fulbright Foreign Student Program. Please visit the UC Davis Fulbright Contact Information page to find contacts for questions about programs.

About Global Affairs at UC Davis

Global Affairs brings the world to UC Davis, welcoming more than 10,000 international students, scholars and leaders, and hosting programs that inspire global curiosity, understanding and engagement. Compelled by the valuable outcomes of thinking globally, we make transformative opportunities a reality by supporting the thousands of students and faculty learning and researching globally—and by facilitating collaborations that tackle the world’s most pressing challenges through more than 150 global partnerships.

Putting our vision of a UC Davis community that engages, thrives, and leads in this interconnected world into action, Global Affairs is in pursuit of an ambitious goal: Global Education for All.