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Margaret “Peggy” Bentley, MA, PhD

Distinguished Professor of Nutrition, Emeritus
Fellow, Carolina Population Center

pbentley@unc.edu

Dr. Bentley received her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in medical anthropology from the University of Connecticut. From 1985-98, she was on the faculty of the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University. Since 1998, she has been on faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill where she has held several leadership roles, including as Associate Dean for Global Health from 2003-2017. Dr. Bentley’s research focuses on women and infant’s nutrition, infant and young child feeding, behavioral research on sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, and community-based interventions for nutrition and health. She has particular expertise in qualitative research methods and the application of these for program development and evaluation. 

Dr. Bentley formerly led an NIH-funded intervention to improve child growth and development in Andhra Pradesh, India and currently leads an NIH-funded trial in North Carolina for the prevention of obesity among infants and toddlers. She was Principal Investigator of a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant for analyses of nutrition data from the Breastfeeding, Antiretroviral, and Nutrition (BAN) study. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Nutrition. She was the founding Chair of the Board of Directors of the Triangle Global Health Consortium. She was an officer of the Board of Directors of the Consortium for Universities in Global Health. In 2019, she was elected president of the Society for Implementation Science in Nutrition, which she held for 3 years. 

Dr. Bentley has been part of the Galapagos Science Center since its inception, visiting first with a UNC delegation in 2009. She was a board member of the center until 2019 and was the first to bring faculty and students to the archipelago for research on human health and the environment. Several undergraduate and graduate students participated in this work, and human health research in the Galapagos is now a key priority. The first UNC publication on human health was led by Bentley and a graduate student from the Gillings School of Global Public Health, titled “People live here: Health and nutrition of mothers and children on Isabela Island, Galapagos.” The title of the publication was the result of how confused people seemed when she talked about this research in the Galapagos, with most responding with, “people live there?” Since then, Bentley has collaborated with many faculty and students, including the current director, Dr. Amanda Thompson. One of Bentley’s doctoral students, Khristopher Nicholas, completed his dissertation there on access and quality of food and food security. She feels privileged to be part of the interdisciplinary and collaborative community of the GSC. 

Research Projects

Publications

  • Thompson, A.L., Stewart, J.R., Bentley, M., Ocampo Trujillo, J.E., Terán, E., & Ochoa, V. (2023). Climate and health challenges in small island states: Identifying vulnerability in water and food resources in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. In Walsh, S.J., Mena, C.F., Stewart, J.R., & Muñoz Pérez, J.P. (Eds), Island Ecosystems: Challenges to sustainability (pp. 91-105). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28089-4_7
  • Chowa, G., Rizzo, C.F., Thompson, A., Bentley, M., & Chapman, M. (2023). Social issues in the Galapagos Islands: A participatory and exploratory study. In Walsh, S.J., Mena, C.F., Stewart, J.R., & Muñoz Pérez, J.P. (Eds), Island Ecosystems: Challenges to sustainability (pp. 119-135). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28089-4_9
  • Nicholas, K.M., Bentley, M.E., Barrington, C., & Thompson, A.L. (2023). Towards increased island food system resilience: Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. In Walsh, S.J., Mena, C.F., Stewart, J.R., & Muñoz Pérez, J.P. (Eds), Island Ecosystems: Challenges to sustainability (pp. 137-150). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28089-4_10
  • Thompson, A.L., Terán, E., & Bentley, M.E. (2022). Syndemic water and food insecurity: Impacts on the dual burden of disease in Galapagos. In Thompson, A.L., Ochoa-Herrera, V., & Terán, E. (Eds.), Water, food and human health in the Galapagos, Ecuador: "A little world within itself" (pp. 91-105). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92411-9_6
  • Jahnke, J.R., Thompson, A.L., Archer, N.T., Bentley, M.E., Houck, K.M., Murgueitio Fuentes, M.F., & Ochoa, J. (2022). Health across the first 1000 days in the Galápagos Islands. In Thompson, A.L., Ochoa-Herrera, V., & Terán, E. (Eds.), Water, food and human health in the Galapagos, Ecuador: "A little world within itself" (pp. 211-228). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92411-9_13
  • Jahnke, J.R., Archer, N.T., Thompson, A.L., Ocampo, J., & Bentley, M.E. (2022). Health-seeking behavior and perceptions of care: A qualitative study investigating the underutilization of public health care on the Galápagos Islands. In Thompson, A.L., Ochoa-Herrera, V., & Terán, E. (Eds.), Water, food and human health in the Galapagos, Ecuador: "A little world within itself" (pp. 257-271). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92411-9_16
  • Miller, J., Adair, L., Stewart, J., Terán, E., Bentley, M., & Thompson, A. (2022). Water insecurity is differentially associated with food insecurity across seasons: Evidence from the Galápagos. Current Developments in Nutrition, 6, 591. https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzac060.049
  • Nicholas, K., Bentley, M., Terán, E., & Thompson, A. (2022). Navigating globalized food environments: Market access, consumer behavior, and dietary diversity in the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador. Current Developments in Nutrition, 6. https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzac059.022
  • Thompson, A.L., Jahnke, J.R., Terán, E., & Bentley, M.E. (2022). Pathways linking maternal mental health and child health in a dual burden context: Evidence from Galapagos, Ecuador. Social Science & Medicine, 305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115043
  • Nicholas, K.M., Bentley, M.E., Terán, E., & Thompson, A.L. (2019). Water security in the Galápagos: Socioecological determinants and health implications. EcoHealth, 17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-019-01456-w
  • Thompson, A.L., Nicholas, K.M., Watson, E., Terán, E., & Bentley, M.E. (2019). Water, food, and the dual burden of disease in Galápagos, Ecuador. American Journal of Human Biology, 32 (1). https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23344
  • Houck, K.M., Terán, E., Ochoa, J., Zapata, G.N., Gomez, A.M., Parra, R., Dvorquez, D., Stewart, J.R., Bentley, M.E., & Thompson, A.L. (2019). Drinking water improvements and rates of urinary and gastrointestinal infections in Galápagos, Ecuador: Assessing household and community factors. American Journal of Human Biology, 32 (1). https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23358
  • Jahnke, J.R., Houck, K.M., Bentley, M.E., & Thompson, A.L. (2019). Rising rates of cesarean delivery in Ecuador: Socioeconomic and institutional determinants over two decades. Birth, 46 (2), 335–343. https://doi.org/10.1111/birt.12421
  • Pera, M.F., Katz, B.N.H., & Bentley, M.E. (2019). Dietary diversity, food security, and body image among women and children on San Cristobal Island, Galapagos. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 23(6), 830–838. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-018-02701-4
  • Waldrop, J.B., Page, R.A., & Bentley, M.E. (2016). Perceptions of body size in mothers and their young children in the Galapagos Islands. Maternal Child Health Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-016-2022-0
  • Page, R., Bentley, M., & Waldrop, J. (2013). People live here: Maternal and child health on Isla Isabela, Galapagos. In Walsh, S.J., & Mena, C.F. (Eds.), Science and conservation in the Galapagos Islands: Frameworks & perspectives (pp. 141-153). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5794-7_8

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Galapagos Science Center

 

UNC Center for Galapagos Studies