Project Summary/Abstract Career Goals: This is a resubmission of an application for a K01 Career Development Award in Population Research for Nadia Diamond-Smith, PhD, MSc, an Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Francisco. Her preliminary research focuses on maternal and child health in South Asia, specifically the role of gender inequality and food insecurity. In the short term, she aims to build on this work, investigating the effect of gender inequality and food insecurity on maternal and child health outcomes in newly married women in Nepal. In the long term, she aspires to conduct research that results in interventions that will improve gender inequality and food access, and ultimately improve maternal and child health outcomes for women across their life course, with a focus on the pre-conception period. The knowledge and experience she will gain from this K01 award will prepare her to compete for NICHD R01 funding to test the household level behavior change and food insecurity intervention to address household dynamics around women's empowerment and access to food and nutrition in Nepal developed in this proposal in a randomized intervention trial. Environment: The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) provides generous support for junior faculty. UCSF researchers have a long history of pursuing innovative ideas in reproductive health, studying food insecurity, and working in low and middle-income countries. Key Elements of Research Career Development Plan: Dr. Diamond-Smith has a strong background in public health (epidemiology and biostatistics) and demographic methods, with substantial experience analyzing large datasets and conducting qualitative data. This career development award will enable her to address several remaining gaps in her training specific to her career goals, and to gain applied experience planning and executing a primary data collection study on gender inequality and food insecurity, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. She seeks training in (1) maternal and child nutrition and food insecurity; (2) women's empowerment theory and measurement; and (3) implementation sciences, including designing behavioral interventions and evaluating interventions. To achieve these goals, Dr. Diamond-Smith has assembled a unique interdisciplinary training and mentoring team. It includes her Primary Mentor, Sheri Weiser, MD, MPH, in the School of Medicine at UCSF with a secondary appointment in Global Health Sciences at UCSF, who has extensive experience conducting research and developing interventions on food insecurity and health outcomes, and co-mentor Mallory Johnson, PhD, a Clinical Health Psychologist in UCSF's School of Medicine and an expert behavior change interventions and intervention design and evaluation. Her team includes three additional, complementary advisors: Cynthia Harper, PhD, in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at UCSF, with an expertise in...