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Dietitian Shailja Mathur wins National Distinguished Service award
The Rutgers Extension educator was recognized by a national association for her leadership in community health and nutrition education.
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Malvika Choudhary - Wed, 05, Nov 2025
- 15:39 EST
- 25
Shailja Mathur / sebsnjaesnews.rutgers.edu
Public administrator and community dietitian Shailja Mathur received the 2025 Distinguished Service Award from the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (NEAFCS), the organization’s highest professional honor.
Mathur, a Family and Community Health Sciences (FCHS) Extension Educator at Rutgers University, was honored for her long-standing leadership in chronic disease prevention, health promotion, and efforts to advance health equity among South Asian and other diverse communities.
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Over a career spanning more than two decades in nutrition education, she has developed evidence-based interventions addressing community health challenges across New Jersey.
Since joining Rutgers Cooperative Extension’s FCHS program in 2014, Mathur has co-led the implementation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP) distance-learning model.
The initiative earned the CDC’s top-tier “Full Plus” recognition for program outcomes and participant retention, with 90 individuals completing the current year-long cohort. Her New Jersey Empower to Prevent program also received first-place awards for Excellence in Research at both the state and Eastern Region levels from NEAFCS.
Mathur has played a key role in building partnerships between Rutgers Cooperative Extension and institutions including the South Asian Total Health Initiative, Rutgers Medical School, Rutgers Cancer Institute, Rutgers School of Nursing, and the Rutgers Institute for Health, Healthcare Policy, and Aging Research.
Her work extends beyond administration to include community engagement, research, media outreach, and the recruitment and training of peer leaders to deliver culturally relevant health education.
Over her 23 years at Rutgers, Mathur has received multiple honors, including the NEAFCS Social Media Outreach Award (2024), the Mary W. Wells National Diversity Award (2018), and the Mary Jane Willis Diversity Award (2019) from Rutgers Cooperative Extension.
She also serves as a CDC Lifestyle Coach Master Trainer and certified facilitator for several evidence-based health programs.
Mathur holds a master’s degree in education from the University of Bridgeport and completed her dietetics training at Rutgers University and the Sodexo Internship Program in Allentown.
The award, presented at the NEAFCS annual session held October 20–23 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, recognizes members for exceptional leadership, outstanding educational programming, and significant professional contributions to the field of family and consumer sciences extension.
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