Our Lead Consultants

  Rachel Scherr, PhD, completed an undergraduate degree in Nutrition Science in 2004 at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. From there, Dr. Scherr completed her doctoral degree at UC Davis in the Graduate Group in Nutritional Biology. Dr. Scherr’s early career in research focused on a murine model of dietary and genetic copper deficiency under the guidance of Dr. Carl Keen. While Dr. Scherr found the work rewarding and fascinating, working with rodents was not a good fit, so she made the move to work in the arena of community nutrition and nutrition education. Dr. Scherr’s dissertation work was focused on the development and evaluation of nutrition competencies and a competency-based resource guide for preschool-aged children, under the guidance of Dr. Sheri Zidenberg-Cherr, a world-renowned expert in garden-enhanced nutrition education and curriculum development. Upon completion of her PhD, Dr. Scherr worked as a postdoctoral scholar with Dr. Zidenberg-Cherr before transitioning to faculty in the Department of Nutrition at UC Davis. Dr. Scherr spent approximately 10 years on the faculty at UC Davis securing nearly $6 million in grant funding. Much of the work at this time was focused on curriculum development, evaluation, and implementation in partnership with statewide governmental agencies. Dr. Scherr also served as a curriculum content expert and reviewer for several other national and international colleagues. Dr. Scherr also worked as the nutrition content expert for CalFresh Healthy Living, UC and EFNEP.

Currently, Dr. Scherr also serves as an adjunct professor at San Francisco State University in the Family, Interiors, Nutrition & Apparel Department. 

Dr. Scherr’s research is focused on nutrition education in schools, innovative approaches to program assessment, measurement of skin carotenoid status, food insecurity, and food literacy. 

To date, Dr. Scherr has authored 36 publications with additional  that are currently submitted or under review. Dr. Scherr has mentored several graduate and undergraduate students who have flourished in medical schools, obtained prestigious positions at Stanford University, UC Davis, American River Community College, CalFresh Healthy Living, UC, and the California Department of Social Services. 

  Sheri Zidenberg-Cherr, PhD is a Cooperative Extension Specialist Emeritus from UC Davis. Dr. Zidenberg-Cherr’s research program was focused on the impact of multi-faceted approaches to nutrition education on the dietary and lifestyle choices of school-aged children. Her research utilized a food systems approach in the development and testing of nutrition education curricula and comprehensive nutrition education programs for school-age children. 

Dr. Zidenberg-Cherr has authored 93 publications and numerous nutrition curricula. During her tenure at UC Davis, Dr. Zidenberg-Cherr reviewed curricula for colleagues and was recognized by the National Cancer Institute for her work developing the award-winning curriculum Nutrition to Grow On. She is the founding director of the Center for Nutrition in Schools in the Department of Nutrition at UC Davis. 

At the University of California, Davis, Dr. Zidenberg-Cherr was responsible for the development and presentation of applied nutrition programs relevant to nutrition and health in California and the nation, to audiences outside of the university campuses including professionals and consumers. Her outreach program emphasized the
extension of current research knowledge on general nutrition and health and childhood  nutrition. She has provided leadership for numerous workshops, trainings  and conferences in the areas of 1) Nutrition Education in Public Schools and 2) Current Issues in Nutrition. 

In her retirement from UC Davis, Dr. Zidenberg-Cherr participates in selected consulting work primarily in collaboration with SNSC.