Di Fang, Ph.D.

Di Fang is an Associate Professor in the Food and Resource Economics Department at the University of Florida. She specializes in the economics of food, health, and nutrition policy, focusing on how policy influences dietary choices and health outcomes. She works across disciplines to examine how program design, retail environments, and consumer incentives can expand the availability and affordability of healthy foods.

An agricultural economist by training, Dr. Fang has extensive experience in food and nutrition research. She has published widely in economics and public health, and her findings have informed federal agencies and been cited in the White House Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. Her work has been supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), among others. She has worked with government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and academic partners to evaluate how programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), along with other economic incentives, pricing strategies, and market interventions, encourage healthier purchasing and improve diet quality. She also serves on editorial boards, holds leadership roles in professional associations, and mentors graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and early-career researchers.

Dr. Fang earned her BS in Economics from Nankai University in China and her PhD in agribusiness from Arizona State University. She is committed to connecting economics, nutrition, and public health to inform policies that strengthen food security and improve the well-being of all.