Keren Papier

Keren Papier is a nutritional epidemiologist whose broad research interests include examining the diet and lifestyle related causes of morbidity and mortality, particularly cardiometabolic outcomes and GI cancers, using cohort study methodology. She has a special interest in investigating the health effects of animal-sourced foods, the nutritional status and disease biomarkers of adults consuming plant-based diets, and in dietary questionnaire design.

Keren is based at the Cancer Epidemiology Unit (CEU), where she leads nutritional research in the Million Women Study cohort. She also manages and overseas usage of the CEU-wide UK Biobank project data. Keren is the principal investigator for the Feeding the Future Study (FEED); this study is being conducted in collaboration with the Wellcome “Our Planet Our Health” programme “Livestock, Environment and People (LEAP)” and the World Health Organization. The aim of this study is to describe contemporary plant-based diets (e.g. flexitarian, vegetarian, and vegan) and diets containing meat and fish in UK adults and to examine the motivations and characteristics of the adults consuming these diets.

Before joining the CEU, Keren received her PhD in Epidemiology from the Australian National University, for which she assessed the incidence and risk factors of emerging type 2 diabetes mellitus in Thailand. She also holds a Bachelor of Public Health Nutrition (Honours I) from Griffith University. Her international research settings include: Thailand, Philippines, Australia, and the UK.