Dr. sc. hum. Thalia Sparling

MPH  

Scientist (post-doctoral fellow IMMANA program)

Thalia is a postdoctoral fellow with the Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition Actions (IMMANA) programme at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where she works on evidence synthesis of tools, metrics and methods used to study agriculture to nutrition pathways.  She also collaborates with the Heidelberg Institute of Global Health on the Food and Agricultural Approaches to Reducing Malnutrition (FAARM) project, a clustered randomized field trial investigating the impact of Helen Keller International’s Homestead Food Production program in rural Bangladesh.  With FAARM, she conducts implementation research on program delivery, process and impact pathways.  Thalia completed her PhD at the University of Heidelberg’s Institute of Public Health in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics unit under the supervision of Dr. Sabine Gabrysch. Her dissertation examined the association of food access, diet and nutrition with depression in women of reproductive age, particularly in Bangladesh. Thalia holds a Master in Public Health from Columbia University, focusing on forced migration and humanitarian assistance, and a Bachelor of Arts from Smith College in anthropology and Spanish.

Languages

English, Spanish, basic French

Projects

Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition Action (IMMANA) Program

Food and Agricultural Approaches to Reducing Malnutrition (FAARM)
Full title:  Reducing young child undernutrition through an integrated agricultural project with women’s groups: A cluster-randomised trial in rural Bangladesh

Publications

Sparling TM, Nesbitt RC, Henschke N, Gabrysch S. Nutrients and perinatal depression: a systematic review. Journal of Nutritional Sciences 2017; 6:e61; doi:10.1017/jns.2017.58

Sparling TM, Henschke N, Nesbitt RC, Gabrysch S. The role of diet and nutritional supplementation in perinatal depression: a systematic review. Matern Child Nutr. 2017;13:e12235. doi: 10.1111/mcn.12235.

Stark L, Kassim N, Sparling T, Buscher D, Yu G, Boothby N. Assessing the impact of microfinance programming on children: an evaluation from post-tsunami Aceh. Disasters 2015: 39(2): 295-315.

Fanzo J, Lachat, C., Sparling, T., Olds, T. The nutrition sensitivity of agriculture and food policies: a summary of eight country case studies. SCN NEWS 2014: (40): 19–25.

Sparling T, Gordon, N. A Two-Country Report on Livelihood Interventions and Child Protection following Disasters. Program on Forced Migration: Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 2011.

Ager A, Stark, L., Sparling, T. Rapid Appraisal in Humanitarian Emergencies. Program on Forced Migration: Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 2011.

Ager A, Sparling, T., Potts, A.  . Participatory Ranking Methodology, A Brief Guide. In: Program on Forced Migration MSoPH, Columbia University, editor. 2010.

Zink S, Weinreib R, Sparling T, Caplan AL. Living donation: focus on public concerns. Clin Transplant 2005: 19(5): 581-585.