Faculty and Research

Public health nutrition promotion + disease prevention with underserved, vulnerable youth and families including: food and nutrition insecurity; developing/evaluating school- and community-based nutrition interventions; socio-environmental influences of eating behaviors. 

Micronutrients and pregnancy; placenta; adverse pregnancy outcomes; plasma volume; public health issues in low- and middle-income countries.

Eating behaviors in children; neural mechanisms of taste preference and eating behaviors in children; food marketing and childhood obesity; genetic and neural influences in taste in children.

As a social and behavioral scientist, Stephen Kodish is interested in the design, implementation, and evaluation of interventions aimed to improve the health and nutrition of vulnerable populations globally.

Dr. Masterson broadly investigated how technology and media can influence eating behavior and he works to adapt these tools and methods to improve health.

Muzi Na’s research explores the mechanisms leading to health disparities, particularly with interests in social and behavioral determinants, such as food insecurity, diet and dietary behavior, psychosocial exposures, in relation to mental wellbeing and sleep health.

Satiety and obesity; Influence of food characteristics such as variety, energy density, and portion size on energy intake across the lifespan.

The consequences of over-nutrition and the stress of "western diets" related to lipid mediators and a global shift of dietary fatty acids; identifying markers of disease and better ways to prevent or manage disease.

Macronutrient (dietary fibers)-gut microbiome interaction; microbiome- informed dietary interventions to improve chronic inflammatory diseases; mechanism(s) by which gut microbiota-derived metabolites (and products) alleviate or aggravate metabolic syndrome and IBD.

Central nervous system governs feeding behaviour and importantly, vice versa, the food consumed and the resulting neural and hormonal gut signals affect a broad network of neural circuits and behaviours.

Behavioral (feeding practices, sleep) and individual factors that impact food intake; Responsive parenting; Clinical and community-based childhood obesity prevention interventions