
BIOGRAPHY
Dr Damayanti Soekarjo is the founder and managing director of Savica consultancy in Surabaya. Savica is a research consultancy in public health and communication, founded in 2011. She holds an MD from Utrecht University and a PhD in nutrition from the University of Amsterdam. Her interests are broad and she has been involved in various studies related to nutrition throughout the lifecycle, with a focus on childhood malnutrition. She led the implementation of an effectiveness and acceptability trial of locally produced RUTFs in Bogor (West Java) as well as the Solutions to Enhance Health with Alternative Treatments (SEHAT): double-blinded randomized controlled trial in Indonesia for gut microbiota-targeted treatment of severe acute malnutrition using rice bran in ready-to-use therapeutic foods in Jember (East Java). This work contributed to the development of an Indonesian RUTF standard. In addition, she led the evaluation of programmatic innovations to prevent and manage acute malnutrition in Indonesia (including screening at the household and early childhood development centres).