Jody Hoenink

ody is a a PhD student at the department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Amsterdam University Medical Center in the Netherlands. Her research focuses on the prevention of diet-related chronic diseases through changing the food environment using food price interventions. Conjoint analysis can help reveal the most preferred design of food environments in promoting healthy food choices.

Jody has a background in Health Sciences – specialization Prevention and Public Health. She is convinced that prevention is better than cure, and is particularly passionate about an upstream approach to the prevention of chronic diseases. Many people make – rationally or automatically – unhealthy lifestyle choices that in the long run are likely to result in a decline in health. The prevention of unhealthy lifestyle through individual-level interventions has been less successful than hoped. A new potential lies with the adjustment of the environment in which (unhealthy) lifestyle choices are made. Such an approach may also lead to a narrowing of social inequalities, as environmental interventions are likely to target all those exposed, which is not the case for individual-level interventions. Jody is particularly interested in unhealthy diets, and the role of food pricing mechanisms and choice architecture. Choice-Based Conjoint Analyses will be conducted to reveal preferences for healthier food environments.