Dr. Shreela Sharma Testifies on Capitol Hill!

Today, Dr. Shreela Sharma, co-founder of Brighter Bites and associate professor of epidemiology at UTHealth School of Public Health, testified before the House Agriculture Committee about the effectiveness of the Brighter Bites program. This hearing was the 15th in a series of committee hearings called Past, Present, and Future of SNAP: Evaluating Effectiveness and Outcomes in Nutrition Education.

Dr. Sharma was one of four panelists. The others included:

– Ms. Susan Foerster, Founding Member, Association of SNAP Nutrition Education Administrators, Carmichael, CA

– Dr. Jo Britt-Rankin, Associate Dean & Extension Professor, Extension Committee on Organization & Policy, Columbia, MO

– Dr. Kimberlydawn Wisdom, Senior Vice President, Community Health & Equity, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI

These panelists discussed the history and development of SNAP-Ed, program models that use SNAP-Ed funding, like Brighter Bites, and research results to show program effectiveness.

For committee members, Dr. Sharma turned into a font of information because of the robust data platform she developed with colleagues at UTHealth School of Public Health to evaluate the Brighter Bites program impact on participating families.