profiles

Ph.D. Nutrition & Food Science, University of Maryland, College Park. December 2014
M.S. Food Science & Technology Agricultural Engineering, Azad University, Science & Research Branch. Tehran, Iran.
B.S. Food Science & Technology Agricultural Engineering, Azad University, Science & Research Branch. Tehran, Iran.

Dr. Maryam Ganjavi is a researcher and educator specializing in food safety, nutrition, and the role of diet in chronic disease prevention. Her early work examined the impact of food processing on heavy metals, such as lead and cadmium in canned tuna, and she has applied biotechnology in food safety research, including using bioluminescent bacteria to detect acrylamide, a potentially carcinogenic compound formed in starchy foods cooked at high temperatures.

Her research also explores the relationship between diet and chronic disease, including studies on red meat and colorectal cancer, fruit and vegetable intake and gastric cancer, alcohol consumption and oral cancers, diet and type 2 diabetes, and the effects of fat and sugar consumption on obesity. Her current projects focus on assessing diet-related risk factors for type 2 diabetes among African American college students and developing a nutrition education program for elementary school children in Baltimore.

Committed to excellence in education, she has taught Nutrition and Food Science courses both in the United States and internationally, emphasizing engaging and experiential learning to prepare students for careers in nutrition and public health.

Publications

Ganjavi, M., & Peterson, J. (2025). Impact of nutrition education program on children's eating patterns. Journal of Food and Nutrition Research, 13(6), 226–231.

Ganjavi, M., & Lo, Y. M. (2025). Optimizing E. coli responsiveness to acrylamide for future food detection applications. Acta Scientific Nutritional Health, 9(4), 76–81.

Ganjavi, M., & Lo, Y. M. (2025). Identification of stress fingerprints induced by acrylamide, a toxic contaminant in starchy food products, using bacterial bioluminescence. Acta Scientific Nutritional Health, 9(4), 3–7.

Maryam Ganjavi, and Joycelyn Peterson. The Impact of Nutrition Education Program on Children's Eating Patterns. FNCE 2024.

Maryam Ganjavi, and Joycelyn Peterson. Associations Between Diet and Risk Factors for Type 2 Diabetes Among African American Students. APHA 2024.

Warren KR, Parker EA, Ganjavi M, Watkins-Lewis K, Clark S, Randolph Cunningham S, Hancock Y. Peer-Led Focus Groups Identify Barriers to Healthy Lifestyle in African American Adolescents from Baltimore City. Ethn Dis. 2024 Apr 24;33(4):163-169.

Khajeh, S., Ganjavi, M., Panahi, G., Zare, M., Zare, M., Tahami, S. M., & Razban, V. (2023). D-allose: Molecular Pathways and Therapeutic Capacity in Cancer. Current Molecular Pharmacology, 16(8), 801-810.

Maryam Ganjavi, Emma Gudmundsson and Joycelyn. Peterson Diet and type2 diabetes risk factors among African American. Presented in Research Centers in Minority Institutions Consortium, National RCMI conference 2023.

Maryam Ganjavi, Joycelyn Peterson. The effect of Covid-19 pandemic on eating pattern of an HBCU undergraduate students. Twelfth International Conference on Health, Wellness & Society 2022.

Maryam Ganjavi, Bahram Faraji, Cynthia Tucker, Jocelyn Peterson. The distributed lag between fat and sugar consumption (as a percentage of energy) and obesity rate. FNCE 2019.

Maryam Ganjavi, Bahram Faraji, Cynthia Tucker. The distributed lag between alcohol consumption and cancer rate. FNCE 2018.

Maryam Ganjavi, Bahram Faraji. “Late effect of the food consumption on colorectal cancer rate” International Journal of food Sciences and Nutrition, (2018): 1-9.

Maryam Ganjavi, Bahram Faraji. Trends in Per-Capita Food Consumption and Their Impact on Colorectal Cancer. IFT 2018.

Maryam Ganjavi, Bahram Faraji. Late effect of the food consumption on colorectal cancer rate. IFT 2017.

Maryam Ganjavi, Bahram Faraji, Cynthia Tucker. Delayed Effect of Fruits and Vegetables on Gastric Cancer. FNCE 2017.

Maryam Ganjavi, Martin Lo. Characterization of the DNA damage mechanism of acrylamide on bioluminescent Escherichia coli carrying recA lux reporter plasmid. June 2014. Finalist in the IFT Biotechnology Division: Graduate student research paper Competition, New Orleans, LA.

Grants