PhD Student Profiles
Current PhD Student Profiles
Haneen Bou Ghanem is interested in studying the effects of early life exposures on health outcomes
and the biosocial and environmental factors that impact children's growth and development
during sensitive developmental periods. She is also interested in exploring the unresolved
molecular mechanisms in which maternal health and environmental exposures during pregnancy
and breastfeeding influence the offspring's health and wellbeing, increasing their
risk of obesity, and metabolic syndrome. During her PhD, she will be working on the
available data for three generations from the ELEMENT cohort study under the supervision
of my advisor Professor Peterson.
Kate Garrity is interested in food and nutrition security, produce prescription programs, health-related
social needs, and community-based participatory research.
Dev Sunuwar My research interests revolve around three interconnected areas within the field
of nutrition and public health. First, I am dedicated to improving maternal, child,
and adolescent nutrition, focusing on promoting optimal dietary practices and health
outcomes during these crucial developmental stages. Second, I am deeply committed
to addressing issues of food and nutrition security while combating malnutrition,
working to ensure that individuals and communities have access to nutritious and sufficient
food resources. Finally, I am focusing on dietary interventions to prevent and manage
non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as diabetes and cardiovascular conditions,
with the ultimate goal of enhancing public health and well-being through nutrition-focused
strategies.
Afnan Mohy's research interests center around investigating the bidirectional relationship between dietary intake and sleep, encompassing aspects such as sleep quality, quantity, timing, and duration. Additionally, she is interested in understanding and exploring the domains of sustainable food, sustainable food systems, and the advancements in food science and technology.
Lindsey English is interested in long-term exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals and their
impact on cardiometabolic and hormonal health in global populations. She is interested
in the longitudinal effects of these exposures and potential mediators of their effects
like diet, particularly during critical life stages such as puberty and menopause.
She is also interested in multi-omics research, especially the epigenome and metabolome.
Donghan Su has a broad research interest revolving around the prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic
diseases, with a particular interest in the intricate link between diet and sleep/circadian
rhythm in relation to cardiometabolic health. Additionally, I am interested in utilizing
multi-omics approaches for precision medicine and addressing health disparities in
diverse populations.
Yanxin (Esther) Zhu research interests lies broadly in using nutritional epidemiological methods to detect
nutrition-related risk factors for non-communicable diseases (especially cardiometabolic
diseases and obesity) from adolescents to older adults. I would like to examine the
relationships between diet, lifestyle factors, food environment, and the prevalence
of diseases in diverse populations domestically and globally, using both quantitative
and quantitative data.
Lamya Aljamie is interested in the interplay between dietary patterns, epigenetic aging, and health
outcomes, with a focus on the effect of high diet quality on the epigenome from embryonic
development to aging. Her research aims to investigate how various diets affect DNA
methylation and are associated with slower epigenetic age. This includes developing
a dietary score to assess its correlation with epigenetic aging and all-cause mortality.
Lamya seeks to enhance understanding of how nutrition impacts health disparities across
the lifespan, ultimately contributing to improved public health interventions.
Melissa Shaffer is interested in studying the psychosocial impact of weight stigma in military members, focusing on its effects on eating and weight control behaviors, and the mediating role of stress.
Graduates of PhD-Nutritional Sciences
Aria Grabowski is interested in understanding how maternal diet and environmental exposure to toxicants
during pregnancy and lactation impacts fetal growth, breast milk composition, and
subsequent offspring outcomes.
Carmen Ramos is broadly interested in the association between diverse family dynamics, including
coparenting and co-habitating grandparents, and the home food and weight-related environment
in preschool-aged children.
Jennifer Lee research interest is to investigate the relationship between dietary intake, epigenetic
modification of DNA methylation, and cardiometabolic health during critical periods
of growth and development.
Yanelli Rodríguez Carmona I am primarily interested in studying interactions between environmental and nutritional
exposures, and their inflammatory potential in the development of chronic diseases.
Kelley Borton, MPH is focusing on nutritional epidemiology and is also currently pursuing her dietetic
internship at the University of Michigan. She is interested in nutrition advice as
well as weight stigmatizing messages portrayed in reality weight loss television,
as well as weight misperception in adolescents and its association to weight related
health behaviors. In addition, Kelley is interested in the relationship between social
media use and body satisfaction, and the implications on the prevention of disordered
eating.
James Casey, MS is looking at the identification of diet analysis using metabolomics. James is also
interested in identifying specific metabolomic pattern changes due to obesity, exercise,
and changes in diet.
Ellen Davis, BS is interested in how the metabolism interacts with the immune system. Specifically,
she studies the signaling between the cytokine interleukin-6 and GLP-1, an important
regulator of glucose, during sepsis.
Aarohee Fulay is broadly interested in investigating how food insecurity, food access, and the
food environment (nutrition policies and programs, etc.) impact dietary quality, chronic
disease risk, and overall well-being in vulnerable populations. I am particularly
interested in studying the association of food insecurity with dietary quality and
chronic disease risk in children, adolescents, and college students.
Samantha Hahn, MPH, RD is a PhD Candidate interested in eating disorder prevention and the unintended consequences
of public health efforts to prevent and treat overweight/obesity. Her dissertation
focuses on the use of weight-related self-monitoring, such as calorie counting or
physical activity tracking, and how it impacts eating disorder risk among college
students. Outside of her dissertation, she has focused on the health-related implications
of weight misperception and weight stigma.
Jennifer LaBarre, MPH, RD research interests includes studying how nutrition influences metabolism during
sensitive periods in human growth and development leading to an increased chronic
disease risk. Jen's dissertation will test the hypothesis that nutrient exposures
in utero, as reflected in the metabolome, has a direct influence on the development
of the offspring and the offspring's epigenome. Further, the metabolic pathways modified
by intrauterine exposure will be reflected in the metabolome of the infant at birth
and these altered metabolomic profiles will be identified in adolescents with phenotypic
characteristics of excess adiposity and progression towards insulin resistance. Upon
completion of these studies, she hopes to develop the necessary information to form
a model for how intrauterine exposure can lead to altered metabolism in later life.
Nathalie Lambrecht is interested in promoting human nutrition and health within ecologically sustainable
food systems. Her dissertation investigates the linkages between household livestock
ownership and anemia among young Ghanaian children, assessing both the nutritional
benefits of animal-source food consumption and the infectious disease risks of exposure
to enteric pathogens from animal feces. Nathalie also researches sustainable diets
and linkages with planetary health.
Astrid Zamora research interests include metabolic health, enviornmental exposures, nutritional
epidemiology.