SubbaRao M Gavaravarapu

Dr SubbaRao M Gavaravarapu uniquely blends his social science roots with two decades of expertise in nutrition communication, public policy, and community engagement. His research explores the cultural and contextual factors shaping food environments, with significant work in food labelling, vendor education, workplace nutritional wellbeing and combating health misinformation. He has over 100 peer reviewed publications.

He served on the expert committee for India's 2024 Dietary Guidelines where he contributed significantly to drafting guidelines on reading food labels and minimizing consumption of ultra- processed and foods high in fat, sugars, salt (HFSS). He possesses direct, high-level policy experience, as the chair of the Scientific Panel on Food Labelling, Claims & Advertising at  Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). He also is a member of the Working Group tasked with drafting ‘Nutrition Strategy for India’  constituted by NITI Aayog, India’s premier policy think tank.  He leads transformative initiatives like the "Let’s Fix Our Food" consortium aimed at reducing consumption of HFSS foods among adolescents - the target demographics most affected by marketing of such foods. He led the development of digital tools like the NutritionAtlasIndia2.0 and innovative nutrition apps demonstrating a forward-thinking approach to disseminating guidelines effectively. He also actively translates science for the public through hundreds of awareness sessions and media engagements.

His contributions are well recognized with honours like the Outstanding Nutrition Scientist Award from Federation of Asian Nutrition Societies (FANS), the VN Patwardhan Prize from ICMR, Mid-Career Award from the American Society of Nutrition, Buti Science Communication Award. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (FNAAS) , India and the Royal Society for Public Health (FRSPH), UK. More recently he has been elected as the Fellow of International Union of Nutrition Sciences (FIUNS).