Ayten Salahi, MS, RDN

Ayten is a researcher, food policy advocate, and nutrition educator on a mission to heal people and the planet through food. As the first-generation daughter of Turkish-Cypriot immigrants, Ayten learned at a young age to view food as a tool for healing, compassion, and unity, and she has committed her career to using food as a vehicle for change. Ayten founded the Planetary Health Collective to engage the larger food and nutrition community in the fight against climate change, under the ethos that all individuals have unique skills to contribute to the fight. She completed her Master's at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, where she specialized in Nutrition Interventions: Design, Operation, and Management. She also completed a Didactic Program in Dietetics at Simmons University and will complete her Dietetic Internship at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2021. Ayten has worked with the Tufts Food Aid Quality Review and USAID Office of Food for Peace to co-author report on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of international nutrition assistance research, and has foundational researching training on mind-gut pathologies from the Duke University Medical Center. She is a member of the Hunger and Environmental Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND), co-founder of the Friedman Food Policy Action Council, and Founder and CEO of the Planetary Nutritionist. Connect with Ayten on Instagram at @planetary.nutritionist or at www.planetarynutritionist.com.