Conservationist and philanthropist Katie Vogelheim is supporting Christopher Golden’s work in nutrition and planetary health.
Katie Vogelheim was born and raised in Marin County, California, an area known for its biodiversity and nature-conservation efforts. Vogelheim was lucky enough to have the ocean, forests, and grasslands within arm’s reach. It wasn’t until she left the area that she realized how precious the natural environment of her childhood truly was.
Vogelheim’s upbringing inspired what has become a calling: to support work that can be intergenerational and to make a positive impact on climate and environmental issues. She has been engaged with Conservation International, one of the world’s largest sustainability nongovernmental organizations, for many years, and is an active member of their Science Council. Additionally, she is a teaching team member, innovation coach, adviser, and a Distinguished Careers Institute fellow at Stanford—roles that allow her to share sustainability, climate change, and energy best practices with others.
Through her family foundation, Vogelheim is supporting the work of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Associate Professor of Nutrition and Planetary Health Christopher Golden. She says, “Chris is a brilliant, compassionate scientist who is doing groundbreaking work on two of my passions: oceans and sustainability. I wanted my gift to elevate the work of a deserving individual who was part of an institution I stood behind, and to also positively impact nature and communities. Chris’s work does exactly this.”
Like Vogelheim, Golden has felt a close connection with nature since he was a child. “That’s what makes my work so meaningful to me,” he says. “Nearly 25 years ago, I went to Madagascar for the first time, and I found a culture of people who understood this connection in a much deeper way. And, over time, I have been able to learn from them how healthy environments can benefit the health and livelihoods of the people who live near them. What started with research in the rainforest—to understand how wildlife populations could benefit human nutrition, led to a more global perspective of ways in which all forms of ecosystem change can destabilize food systems and lead to adverse health outcomes.”
In addition to his ongoing work in Madagascar, Golden is showing countries how to manage their aquatic food resources to ensure they have sufficient nutrition now and for generations to come.
He appreciates how Vogelheim sees the significance in each of these pursuits. “In addition to the financial support, Katie has been a constant source of inspiration in making me feel like my research is important,” he says.
Recently, Golden was named the director of the program on nutrition and planetary health. In this role, he will continue examining the human health impacts of global environmental change through his research.
Vogelheim is cheering him on. “Chris is blessed with an innate ability to connect with people, to build meaningful relationships and drive them toward addressing a worthy cause.”
She says that she’s energized by Golden’s research—and the conservation work of her daughter Whitney, AB ’17. As an undergraduate, Whitney founded the first Harvard College Conservation Society, through which she met Golden. Today, she is earning a PhD in carnivore ecology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Vogelheim says, “I believe it’s incumbent to push these areas of work forward, and for all of us to be stewards of nature, climate, and health, so it’s wonderful to see this next generation as captivated by these fields as I am.”
