Newfoundland Naturals is an education-based company owned by Chief Byron Alexander of Indian Head First Nation and his partner, Jasmine Jesso, in Ktaqmkuk. They are a Mi'kmaw couple living on the west coast of Newfoundland who teach about medicinal plants, fungi and how to reconnect to the land. They feel strongly about food sovereignty and self sufficiency. They hunt and fish with the seasons, grow their own food and forage the rest from the land. By living this lifestyle, they have come to realize that our connection to ourselves, the land and Mother Earth starts with our food supply and reconnecting to Mother Earth.

Rachel Prowse, RD, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics in the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) and is the Program Coordinator of the Masters of Public Health - Nutrition and Dietetics degree. She obtained her BSc in Human Nutritional Sciences from the University of Manitoba and PhD in Health Promotion and Socio-behavioural Sciences from the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta. As a registered dietitian with expertise in public health, Dr. Prowse led a provincial scientific portfolio on healthy eating and food environments with Public Health Ontario prior to beginning her appointment at MUN. Her research program is focuses on understanding determinants of diet and interventions to improve healthy eating at the population level to improve policies and programs. She has conducted a wide range of research on public health nutrition topics, such as food marketing to children, taxing sugar-sweetened beverages, food pricing, and community food security.

Dr. Bohdan Luhovyy is a Professor in the Department of Applied Human Nutrition at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He completed his PhD from Lviv National University in Ukraine in 2001. From 2002 to 2005, Bohdan was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, and from 2006 to 2011, he was a research associate at the University of Toronto. In 2011, Bohdan joined Mount Saint Vincent University and trained over 40 students. In 2017, he was awarded The President and Vice President’s Advanced Career Teaching Award and the MSVU Research Excellence Award in 2021. His research interests primarily focus on functional foods and combine nutrition, food science, and physiology. Another area of his research explores the links between sensory perception and food selection, acceptance, and satiation. Dr. Luhovyy’s laboratory, known as the Appetite Lab, is working on developing foods that meet the guidelines for school meals or are intended for special use, such as food for dysphagia. The Appetite Lab at the Mount works with different food ingredients, including dairy and alternatives to dairy products, whole pulses and pulse flours, seaweeds, and many others, testing them in new food recipes and evaluating their health properties in clinical trials. Over 12 years, Dr. Luhovyy served as a Board member and President for the Breakfast Program Association of Fairview, the community group involving Mount’s students and assisting in providing breakfast programs in three schools in the Fairview area in Halifax.