Amos Laar, MPH, MA, PhD, FGA.
A Professor of Public Health Nutrition, Amos Laar has received academic training in Nutrition, Public Health, and Bioethics. In his independent scholarship, he draws on theoretical, conceptual, and methodological perspectives from the social sciences, bioethics, and public health to understand how physical environment, social environment, as well as structural forces affect health. Currently, his research focuses on two distinct, yet related areas of public health – bioethics (ethics & public health; food ethics, & nutrition rights); public health nutrition (food systems, food environments, and their nexus with nutrition-related non-communicable diseases).
Research & Scholarly Works
Amos Laar writes for both academic and non-academic audiences. His scholarly works include about 100 scientific publications (books, book chapters, and peer-reviewed journal articles). His non-academic publications include Op-eds, Feature articles, and commentaries in print and electronic media.
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Teaching & Mentoring
Mentoring is core to Dr. Laar's work. He taught and mentored students at various levels (bachelors, masters, and doctoral) at several universities with an unblemished record for over 10 years. He has supervised over 80 graduate and undergraduate students from universities in Africa, Europe, Asia, and North America.
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Academic Services
Trained as a mixed methods researcher, Dr. Laar has expertise in several areas including Bioethics, Public Health/Public Health Nutrition. He readily avails his expertise to state and non-state actors including United Nations Agencies - providing services on "Research Methods, Evaluations, Policy Analysis, etc
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Grants & Research Projects
Dr. Laar has served as a PI/Co-I of over 20 successful research grants at the University of Ghana. He is the Principal Investigator (PI) of the IDRC/Rockefeller Foundation-funded ‘Healthier Diets 4 Healthy Lives (HD4HL) Project; PI of the IDRC-funded ‘MEALS4NCDs Project'; PI of the Advocating for Health (A4H) Project, and Co-Principal Investigator and Ghana-Lead of an NIH-funded Project which has facilitated the establishment a master’s programme in Bioethics at the University of Ghana – the first of such in Ghana.
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Recognition & Multi-Media
Dr. Laar has served as Invited Speaker, Keynote Speaker, National Expert, etc. He was an invited participant of the 66th Session of the UN-General Assembly Meeting in New York, 2011. In 2019, he was recognized in the Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, for his efforts at combating nutrition-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Ghana: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(19)30216-5/fulltext.
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Other Initiatives
Dr. Laar is a mentoring enthusiast. He founded the House of Mentoring & Research Resources (HM2R), a not-for-profit global research and capacity-building think tank. He is a founding member of FEM2R (Forum for Effective Mentoring and Research Resources).
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"Knowledge, unlike a loaf of bread, does not diminish when shared" ~ Amos Laar
“My Take” on Matters That Matter
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Our diets are changing and so is our health: nutrition transition has real implications on Ghana’s health
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Why should the Ghanaian youth be interested in the implementation of the sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax?
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Ghana needs to prioritize food environments and make them healthier
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Accra-based retailers call the food they sell “Junk”. A recent academic report