Dr. Julia Finkelstein MPH SM ScD is Professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University and in the Division of Epidemiology, Department of Population Health Sciences, Weill Cornell Medicine. She directs the Cornell Maternal and Child Nutrition Program and Cochrane Center and serves as Co-Director of the Cornell Joan Klein Jacobs Center for Precision Nutrition and Health.
Dr. Finkelstein is the Program Director of the NICHD-funded Maternal and Child Nutrition Training Grant, the longest standing training program devoted to maternal and child nutrition in the United States and co-leads the clinical core for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Center for Point of Care Diagnostics for Nutrition, Infection, and Cancer (PORTENT). Dr. Finkelstein received her Bachelor of Science from McGill University in Montréal, Canada, Master of Public Health degree from Brown University, and Master and Doctor of Science degrees in Epidemiology and Nutrition from Harvard University.
Dr. Finkelstein is an epidemiologist with expertise in one-carbon metabolism, preconception nutrition, and maternal and child health, and the design of randomized trials and cohort studies to inform clinical and World Health Organization guidelines. Her research has been internationally recognized with awards including the Inaugural American Society for Nutrition Foundation-Novo Nordisk Foundation Henrik Dam Award for Scientific Discovery in Nutrition, NIH Technology Accelerator Challenge Prize, the SUNY Chancellor Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities, and the 2026 Excellence in Nutrition Fellow award of the American Society for Nutrition. Dr. Finkelstein has also been recognized for leadership and mentorship, including the International Life Sciences Institute Award and the 2025 Anne Anderson Award for promotion of women as leaders in Cochrane. Dr. Finkelstein was elected Chair of the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology (FASEB) B-vitamins and One-Carbon Metabolism and co-chairs the NIH working group on Biology of Nutrition for the Assessing Determinants of Malnutrition and Implications for Treatment (ADMIT) initiative.