Behnam Tajik
Research Associate – Epidemiologist
Profile
Biography
Behnam is a Research Associate in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York. He is currently working on Born in Bradford, an internationally-recognised research programme which aims to examine the impact of nutritional, behavioural, and genetic factors on health and development perinatally, during childhood and subsequent adult life.
Prior to starting this role, Behnam worked as a Research Fellow within the Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, the University of Eastern Finland, working on a project investigating the role of various nutritional and lifestyle factors in prognosis and diagnosis for the risk of multiple long-term conditions.
Through extensive collaborations with researchers at the University of Liverpool, and the University of Eastern Finland, he has been investigating risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases.
Qualifications
- PhD in Health Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland
- MSc, Public Health Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland
- BSc in Nutrition Science, Science and Research University of Tehran, Iran.
Research
Overview
Behnam's research interests center on longitudinal cohort studies tracking health and development from early life onwards. He focuses on gathering wide-ranging data on factors like nutrition, physical activity, and behaviour to understand their impact on childhood and lifelong health outcomes. Behnam is particularly interested in leveraging data to design and evaluate targeted public health nutrition
interventions that can improve outcomes across the lifecourse.
With the unprecedented challenges posed by an aging population, Behnam’s work also involves secondary analysis of large cohort datasets to derive new insights into prognosis, diagnosis, and management of long-term conditions. Behnam believes collaborations across disciplines are key to promoting healthy living across the lifecourse.
His vision is for research to have tangible outcomes for society, designed with the public for the public, to tackle population health needs.
Projects
- Born in Bradford https://borninbradford.nhs.uk/
- BiB-breathes https://borninbradford.nhs.uk/what-we-do/improving-our-environment/bib-breathes/
Research group(s)
Supervision
Behnam welcomes interest from motivated PhD candidates looking to pursue research in public health nutrition. He is eager to supervise students keen to conduct impactful research using rigorous methodologies like RCTs, longitudinal models, and big data analytics. Candidates with a passion for translating research into real-world outcomes to improve population health are encouraged to contact Behnam to discuss prospective PhD projects in his areas of expertise.
External activities
Memberships
- Executive Board of Finnish Epidemiology Society.
Editorial duties
- Review Editor in Frontiers in Public Health.
