Dr. Hala AlEssa

Doctor - Dr. AlEssa is an assistant professor of public health practice at the Faculty of Public Health, Kuwait University.

Biography

She has earned her bachelor’s degree in dietetics and nutrition, fitness, and health from Purdue University, West Lafayette. She has then went on to earn a Masters of Science degree in epidemiology and Doctor of Science degree in public health nutrition from the Harvard School of Public Health. Following that and up until this year, Hala has been a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. Her research has been focused on dietary quality and the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and endocrine/cardiometabolic biomarkers. More specifically, she has been interested in carbohydrate quality and the risk of cardiometabolic disease in both US and Kuwaiti populations. More recently, she and her mentor, Dr.Frank Hu, have been awarded the faculty research award by KFAS through the Kuwait Program at the Harvard Kennedy School. Through this grant, she has investigated the perceptions and behaviors of SSB consumption and attitudes regarding potential SSB-limiting policies in Kuwait, and studied the effects of liquid and solid fructose as well as natural and added fructose found in beverages in relation to the risk of T2D in Kuwait and the US, respectively.