Hi, I'm Marie

I am an expert in public health nutrition and sustainable food systems. I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington School of Public Health in the Department of Epidemiology, and a core faculty member in the new major in Food Systems, Nutrition, and Health within the Nutritional Sciences Program.

I approach public health nutrition research through a food systems lens that recognizes the need for transdisciplinary and multisectoral collaboration. My research focuses on food loss and waste, value chains for nutrition, systems modeling of food supply chains, and capacity building within nutrition and public health. To explore these topics, I draw from training in quantitative and qualitative research and systems science, as well as my training as a registered dietitian nutritionist.

Previously, I have conducted research as a Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future Lerner Fellow, as a Senior Analyst at the Global Obesity Prevention Center at Johns Hopkins, and as an Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation Fellow. I have received the Mary P. Huddleson Award, the Abell Award in Urban Policy, and the Gordis Teaching Fellowship. I'm a graduate of the University of Washington (BS/BA) and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (PhD, MSPH, and dietetics training).

Reach me at mspiker [at] uw.edu

I conduct research on food systems, nutrition, and health

How can food systems research consider both the environment and nutrition?

Click image to access The Importance of Food Systems and the Environment for Nutrition by Jess Fanzo and colleagues

What is systems thinking, and how can it be applied to obesity prevention?

Click image to access A Systems Approach to Obesity by Bruce Y. Lee and colleagues

How can urban farmers respectfully engage the communities where they grow food?

Click image to access Conceptualizing Community Buy-In and its Application to Urban Farming by Melissa Poulsen and colleagues

I also conduct research on food loss and waste

What is the nutrient content of the food we waste in the United States?

Click image to access Wasted Food, Wasted Nutrients: Nutrient Loss From Wasted Food in the US by Marie Spiker and colleagues

How do American households think about and participate in food waste?

Click image to access Wasted Food: US Consumers' Reported Awareness, Attitudes, and Behaviors by Roni Neff and colleagues

How do consumers interpret date labels, and does that affect how much food they waste?

Click image to access Misunderstood Date Labels and Reported Food Discards: US Consumer Attitudes by Roni Neff and colleagues

And I work on building capacity for dietitians to contribute to sustainable food systems

What are sustainable, resilient, and healthy food and water systems, and how can dietitians develop skills in this area?

Click image to access Standards of Professional Performance for Dietitians in Sustainable Food Systems by Marie Spiker and colleagues

How can dietitians leverage their strengths to cultivate sustainable food systems, and how can the profession scale its impact?

Click image to access Cultivating Sustainable Food Systems: A Nutrition-Focused Framework for Action by Marie Spiker and colleagues

How can dietitians thrive in environments of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity?

Click image to access Navigating Future Practice: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity (VUCA), a brief from the Council on Future Practice