
Merrissa Humble.
The Mark & Sushma Palmer Public Health Advocacy Fellowship
Dr. Sushma Palmer created this fellowship to promote nutrition, public health, and citizen advocacy. The fellowship honors the legacy of Mark and Sushma Palmer in supporting the translation of science into public health policy and practice.
Thank you to Dr. Sushma Palmer for her generous commitment of $450,000 to create the Mark & Sushma Palmer Public Health Advocacy Fellowship at CSPI. For ten years, CSPI is hosting advocates who will gain valuable skills while promoting nutrition, public health, and citizen advocacy.
CSPI’s current fellow is Grace Chamberlin. Grace earned an MPH in Health Policy and Management from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Prior to joining CSPI, Grace served as a Food Security Plan Coordinator with Capital Area Food Network and Cooperative Extension in Wake County, NC, a freelance writer for Nourish Science, and a nutrition policy research assistant for the Global Food Research Program.
Grace is leading CSPI’s advocacy to strengthen the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and secure state procurement policies that prioritize healthy and sustainable foods.

Mark and Sushma Palmer Public Health Advocacy Fellow
Palmer Fellow Grace Chamberlin (right) with Dr. Sushma Palmer
About Dr. Sushma Palmer
Dr. Palmer served as Director of the US National Academy of Sciences' Food and Nutrition Board and, prior to that, Project Director with its Board on Toxicology and Environmental Health Hazards. She is the founder of the Center for Communications, Health, and the Environment (CECHE), a nonprofit dedicated to assisting under-served communities in the US and developing nations by initiating, coordinating and supporting programs to improve health and alleviate the adverse health effects of environmental pollution. Dr. Palmer has 30 years of international experience including research, teaching, and program design and management in the United States, India, Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Ukraine. She has served on CSPI’s board of directors since 2001.