Malek Batal, FRSC, FCAHS

Malek Batal, is a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Université de Montréal and the Director of the WHO-Collaborating Centre on Nutrition Changes and Development (TRANSNUT). He holds the Canada Research Chair in Nutrition and Health Inequalities and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. His research focuses on the links between the environment, food systems, and population health, aiming to reduce health inequities.

Malek collaborates with First Nations in Canada and Indigenous and rural communities globally, working with transdisciplinary teams to ensure his research is relevant to both society and public policy. He is involved in two major Canadian projects assessing the dietary intake and exposure to environmental contaminants in First Nations populations: the Food, Environment, Health and Nutrition of First Nations Children and Youth (FEHNCY) and the First Nations Food, Nutrition and Environment Study (FNFNES), both funded by Indigenous Services Canada.

Malek is also leading several food security projects funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, including collaborations with First Nations in British Columbia. Internationally, he is engaged in projects in Ecuador and Guatemala where he studies the potential of agroecology and alternative food networks to improve human health and reduce harm to the environment with a One Health approach. He has also developed an online training course for the nutritional management of diabetes in developing countries and a MOOC on sustainable food systems available in French, English, and Spanish.

Malek holds a bachelor’s degree in human nutrition and dietetics, a master’s degree in food science from the American University of Beirut, and a PhD in human nutrition from McGill University.

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