Faculty Research Labs 

Health, Well-being, and Mindfulness LabDr. Elizabeth Cotter
 

• Primary Aims
  Prevention and treatment of eating and weight-related concerns; mindfulness-based approaches to improving health behaviors. Active projects include a nationwide study on antecedents and consequences of loss of control eating; qualitative research to examine how DC families think about healthy eating; developing peer-led health promotion programming at faith-based organizations in DC Ward 7.
• Recent Student Roles
  Conduct and analyze interviews with mothers to understand how parenting stress influences child feeding behaviors; design materials and artwork for a mindful-parenting intervention manual; explore obesity stigma in medical students through coding qualitative open-ended survey data.
• Project Example: NCCIH K23 Award, Reducing Maternal Stress to Improve Obesity-related Parenting Practices (K23AT011049). Currently conducting Aim 1, interviews and focus groups with mothers in Washington, DC. 

Visit: Health, Well-being, and Mindfulness Lab

Healthy Schools, Healthy CommunitiesDr. Stacey Snelling
 

• Primary Aims
  Addressing individual and community needs within the social, economic, and cultural contexts where people live, work, learn, and worship. With a focus on DC Wards 7 and 8, project stress methods of facilitating changes, from the individual level to system-wide policies, to support healthy behaviors, increase access to healthy foods and physical activity, and reduce risk factors that contribute to chronic disease.
• Recent Student Roles
  Data collection in community locations such as schools and corner stores; data entry and analysis. Lifestyle change program planning, delivery and evaluation. Evaluate impact and outcomes of programs. Prioritize underserved populations in all projects to support health equity. 

Visit: Healthy Schools, Healthy Communities

INSPIRE LabInterdisciplinary Social and Public Health Intervention Research for Equity
Dr. Liana Petruzzi 

• Primary Aims
  Designing, implementing, and evaluating interventions that address health disparities through social care interventions that simultaneously address mental health and social needs. Research prioritizes improving access to healthcare, particularly maternal healthcare, by working with multi-sectoral community networks.
• Project Example
  K01 Career Development Award, Improving Perinatal Mental Health among Latinas through a Culturally Adapted, Multi-Level Intervention: Conducts a perinatal mental health needs assessment of Latinas in Central Texas that informs the development of a culturally adapted, interdisciplinary intervention with promotores (community health workers) and social workers in order to address the perinatal mental health and social needs simultaneously.

Visit: INSPIRE Lab

Nutritional Neuroscience LabDr. Kathleen Holton
 

• Primary Aims
  Studying how food additives negatively influence neurotransmission and how dietary nutrients may help prevent excitotoxicity, especially on ways exposure to dietary excitotoxins can lead to neurological symptoms, including pain, cognitive dysfunction, paresthesia, gastrointestinal disorders, memory loss, inattention, impulsivity and centrally mediated fatigue, as well as psychiatric symptoms like depression, anxiety, PTSD, and attentional difficulties.
• Recent Student Roles
  Research roles include presenting research and helping market studies on social media platforms; actively collecting data; entering data into Excel and Nutrition Data Systems for research; analyzing data in statistical programs like SPSS, SAS and R.

Visit: Nutritional Neuroscience Lab

Youth and Family Resilience & Wellbeing LabDr. Caroline Kuo
 

• Primary Aims
  Development, testing, and bringing to scale policy relevant and context appropriate interventions for young people and their families in low resource settings. Active projects include studies in South Africa focused on primary prevention of perpetration of violence and prevention of HIV risk among boys; evaluation of a combination prevention designed to prevent acquisition of HIV among girls and young women; and a resilience focused family intervention to bolster adolescents mental health and diminish HIV risk.
• Recent Student Roles
  Monitor and maintain the integrity of data systems including high quality data; analysis of qualitative and quantitative data; design of intervention materials including program implementation manuals and training materials.
• Project Example: Testing the Efficacy of Safe South Africa: An Intervention to Prevent HIV Risk and Interpersonal Violence Among Adolescent Boys (with Dr. Catherine Mathews, Brown Univeritsy), NIH/NIMH 1R01MH129-161-01A1, 2023-28. This study investigates the efficacy of an integrated intervention for preventing or reducing risk behavior related to acquisition of human immunodeficiency virus and perpetration of intimate partner violence among adolescents in South Africa.

   

   

Selected Health Studies Research

Advancing Telehealth Technology & Innovation in DC WICDr. Jessica Owens-Young
 

• Recent Student Roles
  Supporting research evaluation activities to understand the adoption, implementation, and outcomes of telehealth use in local DC WIC agencies. Activities include survey data analysis, interviewing key informants and clients, analyzing qualitative data,  and preparing manuscripts and presentations.

Corner Store Communities in COVID-19

Dr. Melissa Hawkins
 

• Primary Aims
  Illustrate the impact of the pandemic on DC residents’ food security by interviewing residents about their experiences at community corner stores. We document the food security challenges and residents' resilience during COVID-19 in DC Ward 7 and 8 with the AU Humanities Truck, DC Central Kitchen Healthy Corners Program, and Healthy Schools, Healthy Communities).
• Recent Student Roles
  Analyzing transcripts and collecting data for this qualitative project examining the lived experience of DC residents.