Visiting Scientist
Prevention of Diabetes and Related Metabolic Disorders in High Risk Groups

Current work and interests

Patricia is a visiting scientist in the Prevention of Diabetes and Related Metabolic Disorders in High Risk Groups programme, which contributes to efforts aimed at preventing the growing burden of diabetes, obesity and related metabolic disorders by translating epidemiological knowledge into preventive action, and evaluating the effectiveness of different preventive approaches.

Background and experience

Patricia is an inquisitive scientist with vast experience in the field of nutrition, epidemiology, and planetary health. She has a solid background in public health/global nutrition, including a Master’s degree in International Health at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University. During her time in Uppsala, Patricia conducted field research examining links between maternal autonomy and children’s diet diversity.

Patricia completed her PhD (2021) at the Department of Global Public Health at the Karolinska Institute. Her doctoral research entailed both practical intervention-management components with ties to implementation science, as well as the development and application of linear optimisation models to design environmentally friendly, nutritious, cost-effective and culturally appropriate school meals. During her PhD studies, she also carried out a research visit at the London School of Hygiene of Tropical Medicine where she led and completed a complex analysis of the potential health and environmental impacts of the UK population meeting its government target of 5 portions a day of fruit and vegetables. She also provided rapid-response research for the UK, including health impact modelling used to inform the National Food Strategy.

Prior to her current role, Patricia has primarily focused on using a wide range of integrated food composition and dietary intake data to inform interventions, food-based recommendations, and national strategies related to nutrition and environmental sustainability. As a visiting Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Climate Change and Planetary Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (2021-2022), she led research (forthcoming) which included the development of agent-based models as well as other modelling aiming to quantify the effects of dietary shifts on metabolic- and cardiovascular disease outcomes, and the environment.

Selected publications

• Eustachio Colombo P, Milner J, Scheelbeek PFD, Taylor A, Parlesak A, Kastner T, Nicholas O, Elinder LS, Dangour AD, Green R (2021) Pathways to “5-a-day”: modeling the health impacts and environmental footprints of meeting the target for fruit and vegetable intake in the United Kingdom. Am J Clin Nutr nqab076
• Eustachio Colombo P, Patterson E, Lindroos AK, Parlesak A, Elinder LS (2020) Sustainable and acceptable school meals through optimization analysis: an intervention study. Nutr J. 19:61
• Eustachio Colombo P, Patterson E, Elinder LS, Lindroos AK (2020) The importance of school lunches to the overall dietary intake of children in Sweden: a nationally representative study. Public Health Nutr 1–11
• Eustachio Colombo P, Patterson E, Elinder LS, Lindroos AK, Sonesson U, Darmon N, Parlesak A (2019) Optimizing School Food Supply: Integrating Environmental, Health, Economic, and Cultural Dimensions of Diet Sustainability with Linear Programming. Int J Environ Res Public Health 16:3019

• MRC Epidemiology Unit publications on Publications Database