Mission & Vision
CHIFAN was founded with the goal of providing nutrition knowledge to NYC youth that is cognizant of the diverse cultural backgrounds they come from. Through a team of dedicated volunteers, lasting community partnerships, and collaboration with NYC public schools, we strive to deliver exceptional quality nutrition education to empower kids from underrepresented communities with their food, their culture, and their stories.
By delivering culturally relevant nutrition education, we hope to foster everlasting appreciation and celebration of the cultures, heritages, and identities that shape our communities through the lens of food and nutrition.
Our Story
As a Registered Dietitian with a minority background, Danying strongly believes food is inextricably linked to nutrition; however, knowing food from different perspectives can also empower one’s identity. CHIFAN was founded by two Columbia University Institute of Human Nutrition (IHN) alumni, Danying Li and Eric Wang, and a passionate designer, Chumin Wu. With a shared vision for promoting culturally relevant nutrition education, it was started as an alumni project under the Columbia University IHN in 2022.
As the team rapidly grew from three members into a dedicated group of 20 volunteers over two years, they decided to register as a non-profit organization and obtain 501c3 status, which was granted in October of 2024.
Our Team
Danying Li graduated from SUNY Oneonta with a B.S. in dietetics and completed her Dietetic Internship at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. In 2022, she obtained her M.S. in Human Nutrition from the Columbia University Institute of Human Nutrition. In addition to CHIFAN, she currently practices as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist in New York City.
Eric graduated from the College of Arts and Science at New York University in 2021 with a B.A. in Biochemistry. Subsequently, he pursued an M.S. in Human Nutrition at the Columbia University Institute of Human Nutrition, where he met Danying and was part of the original three-person team (along with Chumin) that would eventually start CHIFAN. Upon completing his M.S. degree in 2022, he was accepted into the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, where he currently attends as a medical student.
Chumin is a UI/UX designer with a background in graphic design and marketing branding. She established CHIFAN’s visual design system and integrated creative ideas into classes. Meanwhile, she provides problem-solving and optimizes each specific prompt and workflow to facilitate more effective expertise focus for the team.
Ya Gao graduated from UC Davis in 2020 with a B.S. in Food Science and Technology. In 2022, she earned her Master’s in Human Nutrition from Columbia University's Institute of Human Nutrition. Currently, she is pursuing a Ph.D. in Behavioral Nutrition at Teachers College, Columbia University. As a curriculum developer for CHIFAN, Ya brings her expertise in behavioral nutrition theories and models to advance the program’s curriculum.
Jialu Shou earned her B.S. in Food and Nutrition from Queens College, CUNY, and completed her Dietetic Internship in 2023. She pursued her M.S. in Human Nutrition at the Columbia University Institute of Human Nutrition. In 2023, she joined CHIFAN as an instructor and became the instructor leader in 2024. She currently practices as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist in New York City.
Dr. Gao recently earned her Ph.D. in Behavioral Nutrition from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of nutrition interventions, with a particular emphasis on improving dietary behaviors through evidence-based education strategies. She has extensive experience in public health nutrition, nutrition epidemiology, and program evaluation, with a strong interest in maternal and child nutrition.