Sameer Siddiqi | Scholars Strategy Network

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About Sameer

Siddiqi's research focuses on food and environmental policy and nutrition and income support programs, particularly how these policies influence health and racial equity. A separate strand of his research focuses on policy coalitions and public engagement in research activities. Overarching themes in Dr. Siddiqi's work include the role of administrative barriers in public assistance programs and strategies to advance public health and environmental equity.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

The Biden Administration’s Chance To Improve SNAP and Nutrition Support

Commentary, June 2021

In the News

"Food Access: Challenges and Solutions Brought on by COVID-19 COMMENTARY," Sameer Siddiqi (with Jonathan Cantor, Tamara Dubowitz, Andrea Richardson, Patricia Ann Stapleton, and Yael Katz), Commentary, The RAND Blog, March 31, 2020.

"Proposed Reforms to SNAP May Threaten Food System Equity and Access," Sameer Siddiqi, Center for Livable Future, January 10, 2018.

Publications

"How Should Research Organizations Engage With Public Health Advocacy Coalitions? Recommendations Based on a Mixed Methods Study of National and State Coalitions’ Research Use Practices," Academia, Forthcoming.

Discovers that researchers engaged with coalitions to fulfill personal goals and beliefs, learn about policy issues and processes, and enhance the quality, political relevance, reach, and equity of their research.

"Wasted Food, Wasted Nutrients: Nutrient Loss From Wasted Food in the United States and Comparison to Gaps in Dietary Intake" (with Marie L Spiker, Hazel A B Hiza, and Roni A Neff). Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics 117, no. 7 (2017): 1031-1040.

Aims to calculate the nutritional value of food wasted at the retail and consumer levels in the US food supply, and contextualize the amount of nutrient loss in terms of gaps between current and recommended intakes and estimated food recovery potential.

"Food Insecurity in a Low-Income, Predominantly African American Cohort Following the COVID-19 Pandemic" (with Tamara Dubowit, Madhumita Ghosh Dastidar , Wendy M. Troxel, Robin Beckman, Alvin Nugroho , Jonathan Cantor, Matthew Baird, Andrea S. Richardson, Gerald P. Hunter, Alexandra Mendoza-Graf, and Rebecca L. Collins). American Journal of Public Health (2021).

Examines the impact of COVID-19 shutdowns on food insecurity among a predominantly African American cohort residing in low-income racially isolated neighborhoods. Highlights profound inequities that have been exacerbated by COVID-19, along with existing policies appearing inadequate to address the widening gap.

"Improving the Use of Evidence in Public Health Policy Development, Enactment and Implementation: A Multiple-Case Study" (with Emma E McGinty, Sarah Linden, Joshua Horowitz, and Shannon Frattaroli ). Health Education Research 34, no. 2 (2019): 129-144.

Shows that policies to benefit the public's health are never widely implemented.

"Towards a Broader View of Public Health Coalition Advocacy and Knowledge Brokering: A Qualitative Analysis of the Internal Functioning and Research Use Practices of National and State Coalitions related to SNAP," Academia, Forthcoming.

Finds that national and state coalitions used research most frequently to design and conduct new studies, analyzing policy problems, and educating the public.

"SNAP Participants and High Levels of Food Insecurity in the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic" (with Jonathan Cantor, Madhumita Ghosh Dastidar , Robin Beckman, Andrea S. Richardson, Matthew D. Baird, and Tamara Dubowitz). Public Health Reports (2021).

Discovers severely high food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic among a sample of Black Americans living in Pittsburgh, PA who were enrolled in SNAP. Shows families had very limited or uncertain access to sufficient amounts of nutritious food within the past month. Suggests households enrolled in SNAP needed more support and that many more food insecure households not enrolled in SNAP should have been enrolled.