About the Centre

The Joannah & Brian Lawson Centre for Child Nutrition generates child-centred, collaborative nutrition knowledge designed for real world impact on personal decision making, food environments and human and planetary health

We are a network of researchers and educators affiliated with the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, working toward better lifelong health through reduced child overweight, obesity, malnutrition and chronic disease.

The Challenge

In Canada, more than 30 per cent of children and youth are overweight or obese, while 1.4 million children live in food-insecure households. Globally, an estimated 200 million children suffer from stunting or wasting due to poor nutrition, and hundreds of millions more are food-insecure. The Lawson Centre for Child Nutrition is tackling this epidemic through research, education and policy development on nutrition and health.

Vision

Lifelong health through better child nutrition.

Mission

Support research, education and policy with clear pathways to improve nutrition in children, families and communities in Canada and globally.

Guiding Principles

Knowledge generation at the Lawson Centre for Child Nutrition aims to:

• Connect to an identifiable pathway for practical impact on child nutrition for long term health
• Connect to a need identified by collaborators within the field who will use it
• Have potential for a sustainable, long-term impact

We apply these principles across many spheres of influence, including public policy, social services, influencers and media voices, informed personal choice, health equity, education, global health, health costs, food systems, health across the lifespan, and corporate partners.

Pathways to Impact

We generate child-centred nutrition knowledge with impact by:

• Building capacity
• Changing practice
• Empowering advocacy

Our goal is to sustainably improve child nutrition, for lifelong health and wellbeing.

Who We Are

Three academic departments in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine lead the Lawson Centre for Child Nutrition:

• Nutritional Sciences
• Family & Community Medicine
• Paediatrics

Together, we create new opportunities for research and education in child and maternal health, from studies on how the microbiome affects growth and development, to e-learning technologies that change how families manage diet and chronic disease. We work with academics across many fields, hospitals, industry, non-governmental organizations, advocates, and governments — locally and internationally — to find 21st century solutions to problems in nutrition and health.

Explore our website to learn more about our research, education and policy work. View our YouTube channel to see educational micro lectures and whiteboard videos.