Crystal Karakochuk

Dr. Crystal Karakochuk is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at UBC and an investigator at BC Children’s Hospital and Women’s Health Research Institutes. She is also a registered dietitian with extensive work experience in the field of maternal and child health in Canada and for the United Nations in Africa and Asia.

Karakochuk’s research program focuses on the links of nutritional status and anemia, including the role of nutritional supplementation and of hemoglobinopathies in children and women in Canada and globally. She leads the Nutritional Hematology (NUTRI-HEME) lab at UBC which is focused on the comprehensive measurement and interpretation of indicators of anemia (hematological and nutritional biomarkers) and genetic polymorphisms associated with hemoglobin.

Based on her research on hemoglobin, she is an invited member of two prestigious international advisory groups: the World Health Organization consultation committee for the measure¬ment and interpretation of hemoglobin, and the US Centers for Disease Control/USAID network for hemoglobin measurement. Karakochuk also studies the benefits and potential harms of nutrition supplementation policies and programs and is currently leading two CIHR-funded trials of iron and folic acid supplementation in Canada and Cambodia.

For an up-to-date list of publications by Dr. Karakochuk, please see Karakochuk Research Group.