University of Nevada, Reno Extension is excited to welcome Sabina Malik as a community health specialist to help direct programming in southern Nevada in areas such as community health, food systems, student nutrition and gardening.

In her new role, Malik will focus on increasing awareness of the many health and nutrition resources and opportunities that Extension programs offer to the community in order to encourage healthy eating and activity and increase wellness in southern Nevada.

Malik plans to help enhance the school-wellness policy, which is federally mandated within every school district to increase the nutrition and health of students, by increasing its visibility and helping to include more resources on how best to implement the policy in each school. She also plans to improve gardening programs in southern Nevada schools by making resources more accessible for teachers and staff.

Malik holds both a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in public health with a concentration in social behavioral health from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She has coordinated various research projects at UNLV and in Las Vegas, and previously worked for the Clark County School District, where she gained a strong understanding of the structure and functionality of the school system. This has helped her identify what resources are needed and what programs can benefit teachers in the classroom.

“We are very excited to have Sabina on board and look forward to the exciting work she will do,” said Eric Killian, Extension southern area director.

Malik says her passion and love for public health, community programming, research and teaching has led her to be very prepared and excited for this new role.

“I’d like to help make Extension programming more visible, accessible and foundational as part of what the southern Nevada school districts do,” she said. “We have some really incredible evidence-based programming that some school districts aren’t familiar with and can benefit greatly from using.”

Going forward, Malik will collaborate with Extension State Specialist Annie Lindsey, Health and Nutrition Extension Educator Elika Nematian and Extension Federal Nutrition Programs Coordinator Macy Helm to increase productivity and visibility of health-related programs Extension provides to Nevada communities.