Deborah Olarte is an Assistant Professor of Nutrition in the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. She received her PhD in Behavioral Nutrition and MS in Nutrition and Public Health at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City. She is also a Registered Dietitian. Prior to studying nutrition, she studied musical theater at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Olarte’s research goal is to improve the health and nutrition of children and adolescents through school-based nutrition research. Specifically, her research has focused on universal free school meals in California, Maine, and Anchorage, Alaska, as well as the role teachers can play in promoting the consumption of healthy school meals. She has presented her research on national and international stages and her research has been published in several high-impact journals, such as the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She also co-authored the Diet and Nutrition chapter in the widely circulated textbook, Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Prevention and Control, 5th Edition, published by the American Public Health Association (APHA). Dr. Olarte was the Nutrition and Obesity Policy Research and Evaluation Network (NOPREN) School Wellness Workgroup co-fellow from 2021-2023. She also currently holds a leadership position in the Food and Nutrition Section of the APHA.
Prior to joining NYU, Dr. Olarte was a Research Associate and Lecturer and Post-doctoral Research Fellow at Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts. She has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and Healthy Eating Research, a program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. For her research on teachers’ experiences implementing a school wellness initiative in Anchorage, Alaska, she was one of five nominees for the 2023 Huddleson Award from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation.