Dr Pui Yee (Chloe) Tan

Can you tell us about your research, work and expertise in Southeast Asia?

My research focuses on exploring the situation of triple burden of malnutrition (coexistence of undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and overnutrition e.g., obesity and related non-communicable diseases) among children and adolescents in Southeast Asia (SEA) countries. This project is an extension from an existing BBSRC GCRF-funded project entitled "Addressing micronutrient deficiencies associated with the double burden of childhood malnutrition in China, a combined food system framework". The research has now been expanded from China to other SEA countries, to facilitate knowledge transfer and capacity building, and to generate greater impacts in SEA countries.

We work closely with the local researchers and governments to examine the social, cultural, and physical environmental determinants of different forms of malnutrition by analysing data from their national nutrition surveys (e.g., Vietnam, Cambodia). Identify existing effective food system-based interventions that have been implemented or tested in these regions, and how can we scale up those interventions for wider implementation. We also aim to review national school nutrition policies and programmes in Malaysia, explore its gap in implementation and its impact on child malnutrition. In the past two years, we have also organised a series of online workshop which brought together about ~50 local researchers, academics, governments and policy makers from SEA countries, to disseminate findings, review data and programs available in Southeast Asia (SEA) regions, determine data gaps and identify potential solutions in addressing multiple forms of childhood malnutrition.

I was born and raised in Malaysia. Prior to joining the University of Leeds in 2020, I obtained both my BSc and PhD degree from the University of Nottingham Malaysia. My PhD study focused on determining the effects of gene-diet interactions on obesity and related non-communicable diseases among multi-ethnic Malaysian adults, and post-intervention differences in related anthropometric and cardiometabolic parameters in response to high-protein calorie-restricted dietary intervention.