Rate My Professor Loan Kim

Loan Pham Kim is Professor of Nutritional Science in the Natural Science Division of Seaver College at Pepperdine University in Malibu. She earned a PhD in Public Health from the University of California, Los Angeles, an MS in Nutritional Science from San Jose State University, a BS in Clinical Dietetics from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed a Dietetic Internship at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center as a Registered Dietitian. Her research specializations encompass public health nutrition, health disparities and policy strategies, federal nutrition programs including WIC and SNAP, and global health. Kim teaches courses such as Foundations of Nutritional Science, Nutrition Through the Life Cycle, Public Health Nutrition, Nutritional Epidemiology, Nutrition Issues in Global Health, Research Methods and Statistics, and Senior Research Capstone. She is affiliated with the American Heart Association, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and American Society for Nutrition.

Professor Kim has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and contributed to key research reports. Selected publications include "Calories and sugars in boba milk tea: implications for obesity risk in Asian Pacific Islanders" (Food Science & Nutrition, 2016), "A qualitative study to examine perceptions and barriers to appropriate gestational weight gain among participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)" (Journal of Pregnancy, 2016), "Loneliness and friendlessness among adolescents in 25 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean" (Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 2019), "Physical inactivity and sedentariness: languorous behavior among adolescents in 80 countries" (Journal of Adolescent Health, 2022), and "Ethnic identity, body appreciation, and intuitive eating in a national sample of U.S. adults" (Eating Behaviors, 2025). She co-authored the 2023 Multi-State WIC Participant Satisfaction Survey and the Multi-State WIC Participant Satisfaction Survey on COVID adaptations for the National WIC Association. Her achievements include the Seaver College Impact Award (2025), National WIC Association Leadership Award (2022), Best Paper of 2021 Award from the Association of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, UCLA Dean's Outstanding Student Award (2011), and American Heart Association Pre-Doctoral Research Fellowship (2009-2011).