Khursheed Navder, the inaugural acting dean of the consolidated School of Health Professions, arrived at Hunter in 1988 as a freshly minted PhD, full of excitement about the college’s mission to promote health equity and its diverse student body. Looking back, choosing Hunter was the best decision she ever made.
“Thirty-seven years later, I’m still here and loving every minute of it!” she said.
She headed the Nutrition Program for 15 years and for a decade directed Hunter’s School of Urban Public Health, which was located at the East Harlem Silberman School campus. During that time, she led several pioneering initiatives that addressed emerging public-health needs and set standards for CUNY.
Under her leadership, Hunter became one of only two nutrition programs nationwide to combine didactic coursework with supervised experiential learning into a single, competency-based curriculum. The innovations positioned Hunter as a leader — enhancing student outcomes, streamlining credentialing, and accelerating graduates’ workforce readiness.
The combined School of Health Professions encompasses the departments of Physical Therapy, Speech Language Pathology, and Nutrition & Public Health (the former School of Urban Public Health) and took time and administrative acumen.
“It was about building a unified school capable of fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration and enhancing our collective impact and visibility,” Navder said.
With the school set to join the Science Park and Research Campus CUNY is building at Kips Bay, Navder is looking forward to greater community engagement, and interdisciplinary research and scholarship opportunities.
The SPARC campus, located near top-tier healthcare institutions and the New York Simulation Center, will enable Hunter to cultivate clinical partnerships and expand simulation-based learning, she said. She hopes to link the long-standing community initiatives Hunter has in East Harlem to the new hub, creating a larger network of service-learning and practice-based research opportunities.
“These partnerships will allow faculty and students to co-create meaningful, community-informed solutions to real-world health challenges,” she said.
For more about Dean Navder, read her responses to our questions below:
Why Hunter?
As someone who came from a small town in India, education was my gateway to opportunity — and Hunter stood for the very ideals that had guided my own journey: access, excellence, and impact.
Can you describe your research focus and student involvement in it?
Since my doctoral training, my research has focused on the biochemical and physiological aspects of nutrition, with a particular emphasis on disease prevention. A major area of investigation has been the role of diet in lipid and alcohol metabolism. In collaboration with colleagues at the Bronx VA Medical Center, I have studied the hepatoprotective effects of phosphatidylcholines — especially polyenylphosphatidylcholine. This work has gained added significance with the growing prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, highlighting the potential of nutritional interventions in mitigating liver damage.
Another stream of my research has focused on ethnic differences in fat distribution, especially in children. Our findings revealed that Asian children tend to have greater trunk fat even when body mass indexes are comparable to their peers — challenging the conventional use of BMI as a universal indicator of health and emphasizing the need for more nuanced, population-specific measures.
I have also studied the effects of maternal diet and obesity on fetal growth, using sophisticated tools that use air displacement plethysmography to evaluate neonatal body composition. These studies have helped us understand the early origins of chronic disease and underscore the importance of maternal nutrition during pregnancy.
Mentorship is a central pillar of my work. I have engaged undergraduate and graduate students and junior faculty in research that bridges scientific inquiry and practical applications. In several course-based projects, we have investigated the functional and health-promoting properties of novel plant-based ingredients. Students have evaluated their sensory profiles, physicochemical characteristics, and feasibility for incorporation into food products aimed at improving their nutritional value.
At my core, I remain a researcher — deeply committed to igniting students’ passion for scholarly inquiry. Through mentorship and collaborative scholarship, I aim to foster the next generation of scientists and health professionals, instilling in them the curiosity and rigor essential for impactful research. Whenever possible, I return to writing, reaffirming my dedication to producing evidence that informs both practice and policy.
Your national leadership activities have included posts at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the Commission on Dietetic Registration. Can you comment on the landscape for dietitians and diet research given changes in federal policy?
As someone who has held national leadership roles — including serving as president of the Nutrition and Dietetic Educators and Preceptors practice group, as a commissioner on the Commission on Dietetic Registration, and as a site visitor of accredited programs — I’ve had the privilege of working alongside dedicated colleagues to help shape our profession. I’d like to highlight both the promising opportunities for dietitians and the emerging challenges.
First, the graduate-degree requirement to sit for the Registration Examination for Registered Dietitians, which went into effect in 2024, is a change I’ve long supported. At Hunter, we were ahead of the curve, elevating our Didactic Program in Dietetics to the graduate level as early as 2010. The move not only strengthens the professional and academic foundation of our field — but also heightens the need for more federal and state investment to ensure access for students from diverse and underserved backgrounds. Financial support for training and supervised experiential learning must be a priority.
Second, I’m encouraged by the growing recognition of the critical role dietitians play in the prevention and management of chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity. Efforts to expand Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for dietitian-provided services — especially in chronic disease prevention and transitional care — are long overdue and essential for improving health equity and outcomes. We’ve advocated for these changes for years, and it’s gratifying to see meaningful progress.
Third, emerging frontiers such as precision nutrition and microbiome-informed interventions are creating opportunities for research and clinical practice. With advanced graduate training and a solid foundation in research, today’s dietitians are well-equipped to lead in these areas. This is why I remain a strong advocate for rigorous, graduate-level education that integrates scientific inquiry with practical application.
Fourth, we need to focus on food security and nutrition equity. Expanded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program education and improvements to school-meal standards reflect a more nuanced understanding of how social, cultural, and economic factors shape dietary behaviors. These are arenas where registered dietitian nutritionists must lead — with cultural competence, policy insight, and community engagement at the core.
I am deeply concerned about the sharp reductions in federal funding for applied, community-based, and preventive research. The cuts threaten not only our ability to generate the data needed for evidence-based interventions, but also the mentoring and training pipeline for the next generation of practitioners and scholars. Sustained advocacy and strategic investment are essential if we are to maintain momentum toward a healthier, more equitable society. I am proud to be part of an institution that remains steadfast in its commitment to evidence-based solutions and health equity.
