Sera Young
· ProfessorNorthwestern University · Linguistics
Active 1973–2026
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About
Sera Young is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at Northwestern University, with a PhD from Cornell University obtained in 2008. Her work focuses on reducing maternal and child undernutrition in the first 1000 days, particularly in low-resource settings. She draws on her training in medical anthropology, international nutrition, and HIV to take a biocultural approach to understanding how mothers in low-resource environments cope to preserve their health and that of their families. Her current research addresses water insecurity, developing globally comparable scales such as the Household Water Insecurity Experiences (HWISE) and the Individual Water Insecurity Experiences (IWISE) scales, which have been implemented in over 50 countries. She investigates the prevalence, causes, and consequences of water insecurity worldwide. Additionally, her work explores food insecurity and its impact on maternal and child health, especially among women and children living with HIV, through observational and intervention studies in East Africa. She also studies pica, examining its potential as an adaptive response to health challenges and its relationship with iron deficiency, utilizing data from various regions and animal studies. Dr. Young teaches courses on water insecurity, infant feeding ecology, and data storytelling, and participates in the Northwestern Prison Education Program. Her contributions have been recognized with awards such as the Norman Kretchmer Memorial Award,…
Research topics
- Business
- Social Science
- Sociology
- Medicine
- Computer Science
- Ecology
- Environmental health
- Economics
- Environmental science
- Environmental planning
Selected publications
Advances in Nutrition · 2021 · 184 citations
1st authorCorrespondingExposing the myths of household water insecurity in the global north: A critical review
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Water · 2020 · 182 citations
Senior authorCorrespondingAbstract Safe and secure water is a cornerstone of modern life in the global North. This article critically examines a set of prevalent myths about household water in high‐income countries, with a focus on Canada and the United States. Taking a relational approach, we argue that household water insecurity is a product of institutionalized structures and power, manifests unevenly through space and time, and is reproduced in places we tend to assume are the most water‐secure in the world. We first…
The Science of The Total Environment · 2020 · 169 citations
Senior authorCorrespondingWiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Water · 2020 · 140 citations
Senior authorCorrespondingAbstract Water is imperative for nutrition and health, economic productivity, and political stability; it also holds cultural and symbolic meanings and functions. Household water insecurity is an emerging construct that captures lived experiences with water access, use, and acceptability. Although the plausibility of household water insecurity to “get under the skin” and shape human biology is high, these relationships have not been systematically investigated. Therefore, in this article, we set…
Water Security and Nutrition: Current Knowledge and Research Opportunities
Advances in Nutrition · 2021 · 106 citations
Water is an essential nutrient that has primarily been considered in terms of its physiological necessity. But reliable access to water in sufficient quantities and quality is also critical for many nutrition-related behaviors and activities, including growing and cooking diverse foods. Given growing challenges to water availability and safety, including climate change, pollution, and infrastructure degradation, a broader conceptualization of water and its diverse uses is needed to sustainably a…
Recent grants
Health Consequences of Food & Nutrition Insecurity for HIV+ Women & Their Infants
NIH · $854k · 2012–2018
Health consequences of water insecurity for HIV-infected mothers & their infants
NIH · $390k · 2016–2019
Frequent coauthors
- 179 shared
Edwin D. Charlebois
University of California, San Francisco
- 176 shared
Albert Plenty
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
- 175 shared
Jane Achan
Malaria Consortium
- 174 shared
Moses R. Kamya
Makerere University
- 173 shared
Diane V. Havlir
University of California, San Francisco
- 170 shared
Theodore Ruel
University of California, San Francisco
- 108 shared
Deborah Cohan
- 108 shared
Paul Natureeba
MUJHU Research Collaboration
Education
- 2008
PhD in Nutritional Anthropology., Nutritional Sciences
Cornell University
- 2002
MA in Medical Anthropology
University of Amsterdam
- 1999
BA in Anthropology
University of Michigan
Awards & honors
- 2022 Norman Kretchmer Memorial Award in Nutrition and Develo…
- 2019 Carnegie Fellowship
- 2013 Margaret Mead Award, American Anthropological Associati…
- 2009 Dissertation Award, Society for Medical Anthropology
- 2009 Allan Rosenfield Scholar, New Investigator in Global He…
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