Virtual Walk Talk Listen with Shawn Baker (episode 51)

Shawn K. Baker serves as the Chief Nutritionist for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In this position, he chairs the Agency’s Nutrition Leadership Council, oversees the vision and strategy of the Agency’s Center for Nutrition in the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, and coordinates related efforts across USAID. He also guides USAID’s investments and engagement with partners to address malnutrition in developing countries. Prior to joining USAID, Shawn was the first director of nutrition at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has over 30 years’ experience in global public health nutrition, including 25 years living in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
 
Shawn worked for Helen Keller International for 19 years, including 16 years as Vice President and Regional Director for Africa. He also served as country director for Helen Keller International in Niger and Bangladesh. I know Shawn from Bangladesh where we closely worked on the Nutritional Surveillance Project in the mentioned country.
 
Shawn spent nine years with Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine working with the Niger Health Information System, Center for International Health and Development, Famine Early Warning System in Southern Africa and Niger, and Madagascar food and nutrition surveillance system. Mr. Baker started his career in international development as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Shawn has a master’s of public health from Tulane University, with concentrations in international health and nutritional epidemiology. He earned his bachelor’s of science degree in biology from the University of Miami.
Shawn has a LinkedIn Profile, the same for the USAID project called Feed the Future. and the twitter related handles of his organization USAID are: @FeedtheFuture, @USAID, @USAIDGH, @Agrilinks, @NutritionforDev. The facebook account of Feed the Future can found via this link.
 
Apologies for the quality of this week's episode as we had some challenges with the microphone and background noises, hopefully you will still enjoy this week's episode.
 
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I just finished participating in the Ration Challenge which means I ate the same rations as a Syrian refugee living in a camp in Jordan, based on food packs distributed by the Ration Challenge's local partner organization. By raising money, we'll help bring emergency food, hygiene kits and life-saving support to the people that need it most. It would be great if you can support me or the WALK TALK Listen team by donating by going to the Walk Talk Listen Ration Challenge page or please share the link with your network.