Yevheniia Varyvoda

Interests

Teaching

Food System, Sustainable Healthy Diets, Nature-Based Solutions, Climate Change, Adaptation, Resilience

Research

Food System, Sustainable Healthy Diets, Nature-Based Solutions, Climate Change, Adaptation, Resilience

Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Journals/Publications

• Patel, R. R., Varyvoda, Y., Baroud, H., Landrigan, P. J., & Kilungo, A. (2025). Health and Climate at COP29: Advancing Integration and Bridging Research Gaps. Annals of Global Health, 91(Issue 1). doi:10.5334/aogh.4895
  More info

  Climate and health science is a rapidly growing, interdisciplinary field and holds importance during intergovernmental climate adaptation and mitigation policy negotiations. The 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) convened stakeholders for negotiations and scientific discourse. This viewpoint presents insights gained by the authors’ participation at COP29 focused on health and climate. The authors analyze the evolving integration of health into the UNFCCC process, dissect the contributions and the role of the Research and Independent Non-Governmental Organizations (RINGOs), a constituency to achieve this endeavor, and identify the key gaps in public health research and the policy dialogue that persist in climate negotiations. In the context of bridging research with policy discourse, we define the role of and opportunities to engage meaningfully for young scientists in shaping climate and health within the UNFCCC framework, as well as advancing climate and health science.
• Varyvoda, Y. (2024).

  Conference of the Parties (COP) 28 Takeaways at the Intersection of Health, Climate, and Food

  . Nutrition Reviews, 1-3. doi:10.1093/nutrit/nuae083
• Varyvoda, Y., Foerster, T. A., Mikkola, J., & Mars, M. M. (2024). Promising Nature-Based Solutions to Support Climate Adaptation of Arizona’s Local Food Entrepreneurs and Optimize One Health. Sustainability, 16(8), 3176. doi:10.3390/su16083176
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  This study explores the uptake and potential application of nature-based solutions (NbS) that are particularly promising for small-scale farmers, ranchers, and food entrepreneurs operating in arid and semi-arid regions. Studying the adoption of NbS by local food entrepreneurs (LFEs), including related strengths and limitations, remains an area of exploration due to their potential to optimize interventions that foster environmental sustainability at the intersection of people, animals, and natural ecosystems (i.e., One Health). A multi-method design was used, including literature review, questionnaires, and semi-structured key informant interviews to assess adaptation needs and NbS among a sample of LFEs located in Southern AZ, USA. The findings revealed that existing NbS have been introduced mostly through learning-by-doing practices that are bounded by economic and technological resource constraints. The paper describes a range of accessible approaches and practices that can be piloted and/or scaled up to enhance local food system resilience and contribute to the overlapping health of people, animals, and natural ecosystems. The priority adaptation pathways for NbS were identified to be funding and financing and the co-creation and sharing of knowledge through peer-to-peer and expert-to-peer approaches. The results suggested that AZ LFEs are likely to adopt NbS based on their capacity to address priority climate-driven issues, revenue generation potential, and seamless augmentation with existing food production and operational activities.
• Varyvoda, Y., & Taren, D. (2023). COP 27 insights to increase food-systems climate adaptation and resilience. Nutrition Reviews, 82(1), 1-4. doi:10.1093/nutrit/nuad035
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  Abstract The limited resilience of agricultural and food systems has become an agenda in the time of more extreme natural hazards. The impact of such events is extensive, and the level of damage and recovery strongly depends on ecosystem services, including their own resilience capacity. Most of the time, ecosystems themselves can offer mitigation measures based on the benefits people get from nature, including cultivated and wild biomass for nutrition, materials, or energy; pest and disease control; and regulation of baseline flows, among others. The 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, addressed issues related to crop production, food security, and nutrition. The information garnered from this conference provided impetus for actions that we believe can ensure a future with the resources needed for sustainable development and that support the health and nutrition for all the inhabitants on Earth.
• Akseer, N., Carmona, R., Martin, T. S., Muramoto, M. L., Sadkoviy, V., Taren, D., Varyvoda, Y., & Wazny, K. (2022). Ukraine’s most vulnerable need healthcare: Priorities during the armed conflict. Public health in practice, 4(100296). doi:10.1016/j.puhip.2022.100296
• Taren, D., & Varyvoda, Y. (2022). Considering Ecosystem Services in Food System Resilience. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(6), 3652. doi:10.3390/ijerph19063652
  More info

  The prevalence and severity of natural hazards pose a serious risk to food systems, undermining their function to provide food security and improved nutrition. The impact of such events is extensive, and the level of damage and recovery significantly depend on ecosystem services, including their own resilience capacity. This paper provides evidence that the role, value, and utilization of local ecosystem services are essential for food system resilience and for food security in parts of the world where high vulnerability and lack of coping capacity exist to combat climate change. Patterns of ecosystem services-based strategies were revealed that can be introduced to cope and adapt to climate-related natural hazards at the smallholder food system level. The study suggests that food system diversification, technological innovations and nature-based practices, and traditional and indigenous knowledge operationalized across the food system components have a potential for sustaining smallholder resilience in the face of natural hazards.
• Borberg, J., Cederstrom, T., Taren, D., & Varyvoda, Y. (2021). Enabling Food Safety Entrepreneurship: Exploratory Case Studies From Nepal, Senegal, and Ethiopia. Frontiers in sustainable food systems, 5. doi:10.3389/fsufs.2021.742908
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  Today, formal and informal enterprises are increasingly contributing to the safety and nutritional ramifications of their food business activities. Enabling entrepreneurship in a sustainable manner means making profits, striving to prevent ingress of harmful substances, and increasing the efficiency of using local natural resources and thus mitigating food hazardous footprints. Using examples from Nepal, Senegal and Ethiopia, this review provides information on microbial and chemical contamination and food adulteration that lead to having unsafe food in the market and on factors that are limiting growing food businesses. Four examples for how to accelerate food safety entrepreneurship are presented that include safely diversifying markets with animal sourced foods, sustainably using neglected and underutilized animal sources, expanding, and integrating innovative technologies with traditional practice and using digital technology to improving monitoring and safety along the food supply chain.

Presentations

• Varyvoda, Y. (2025, October, 17).

  Theme: Promoting Global Food Security and Sustainability, Topic: Social Science Perspectives on Sustainable Agricultural Transitions in the U.S. Food System.

  . The Annual World Food Day ConferenceThe Green Institute.
• Varyvoda, Y., Ehiri, J. E., Kilungo, A., Yurika, R., Aseret-Manygoats, T., & Boswell, K. (2025, November).

  Building Evidence for the Implementation and Evaluation of Newly Established Trauma Recovery Centers: A Case Study from Arizona

  . APHA 2025 Annual Meeting and Expo. Washington D.C.: American Public Health Association.
• Varyvoda, Y. (2024, 15 August 2024).

  Abstract Title: Exploring the maladaptation of nature-based solutions in food systems of the  Southwest

  . SCORCH Collaboration Building & Networking Workshop.
• Varyvoda, Y. (2024, 27 August 2024). Presentation of the E-learning training course: Nature-based Solutions to Support Climate Adaptation of Arizona's small-scale food producers. Good Food Forum + Expo. Tucson: One Health Initiative Pilot Grant.
• Varyvoda, Y., Reynolds, K. A., & Von Hippel, F. A. (2023). The One Health Occupational Outlook. 2nd International One Health Conference.
• Varyvoda, Y., Reynolds, K. A., & Von Hippel, F. A. (2023, October). The One Health Occupational Outlook. 2nd International One Health Conference. Barcelona, Spain.

Reviews

• Varyvoda, Y. (2026.

  Serving as a judge at the 2026 MEZCOPH Public Health Poster Forum, The University of Arizona, March 27, 2026

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• Varyvoda, Y. (2026.

  Peer-review of the manuscript: Menu Evaluation Tools in Food Services: An Integrative Review. Nutrition Reviews, Oxford University Press

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• Varyvoda, Y. (2025.

  Peer-review of the manuscript: "Adopting Nature-Based Solutions to Address Climate Change and Boost Food Security: A Scientometrics Technique". The Journal "Humanities and Social Science Communications".

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• Varyvoda, Y. (2024.

  Peer-review of the report “The food system impacts: Hawaii’s” for the Western Environmental Technical Assistance Center for Environmental Justice

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• Varyvoda, Y. (2024. Peer-review of the manuscript: "Malnutrition and Climate Change as a Concern: Strategic Forethought in Lessening of Diet–Associated Problems"..
• Varyvoda, Y. (2024. Peer-review of the manuscript: Urban Planning Perspective on Food Resilience Assessment and Practice in the Zhengzhou Metropolitan Area, China.

Other Teaching Materials

• Varyvoda, Y. (2026.

  Delivered a guest lecture "Sustainable Healthy Diets" for HPS 533: Global Health

  . Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.
• Varyvoda, Y. (2025.

  Completed courses updates to meet Arizona Online requirements for inclusion in the AZO program. The updated courses are: CPH GHI 481/581: Crisis-Ready Food Systems and CPH GHI 432/532: Food in 2050 and Beyond: Climate Change and Global Health

  . University Center for Assessment, Teaching, and Technology, The University of Arizona.
• Varyvoda, Y., Root, A., Foerster, T. A., & Mars, M. M. (2024. E-training course "Advancing Arizona's Food Systems Climate Adaptation through Nature-based Solutions". The Department of Community, Environment, and Policy, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.
  More info

  The climate crisis has prompted the need to seek alternatives and solutions for minimizing its effects. Nature-based solutions (NbS) in the food and agriculture sector are one approach to minimizing the effects of climate change. NbS have the potential to promote greater food security and long-term economic growth and resilience at a lower environmental cost. Become familiar with NbS for agrifood systems and explore opportunities for greater implementation of NbS in Arizona and beyond. 

Others

• Varyvoda, Y. (2024, May 2024). Grant writing support: "Southwest Center for Resilience and Response", Notice of Funding Opportunity CDC-RFA-TU-24-0142: Regional Centers for Public Health Preparedness and Response. The Department of Community, Environment, and Policy.