Ruthfirst E. A. Ayande (MSc, RD, LDN)
Ruthfirst Ayande is currently a PhD (Public Health) candidate in the Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where she also completed a graduate certificate in feminist studies. She holds an MSc in Dietetics and a BSc in Nutrition and Food Science (combined major) from the University of Ghana, and a Certificate in Nutritional Epidemiology from the German Institute of Human Nutrition (Dife).
Ruthfirst conducts interdisciplinary research in maternal and child health in sub-Saharan Africa. Her research focuses on nutrition education interventions to help improve maternal health literacy and infant feeding practices, as well as examining structural, economic and sociocultural determinants of health, and reproductive health and justice.
She is also a Registered Dietitian in Ghana and the U.S. and a licensed dietitian nutritionist in the State of Massachusetts. While her dietetic training in Ghana focused on community nutrition, her dietetic training in the USA was focused on nutrition support therapy in the acute care setting.