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.
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.
Zachary Gersten studies how food systems shape the nutritional outcomes of vulnerable populations
in low- and middle-income settings. He uses dynamic modeling and qualitative research
approaches to map the multi-level and nonlinear processes inherent to food systems
and assess how these processes respond to stressors, such as food and nutrition policies,
environmental degradation, and climate change.
Elizabeth Ludwig-Borycz researches sustainable diets with a particular focus on equity within the food systems
before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Molly Mulcahy began the doctoral program in 2018, as a member of the Bridges lab. Her research involves the study of time-restricted feeding in the context of pregnancy.
She is working to investigate the effects of this practice on maternal insulin resistance
and offspring early health outcomes. Her research includes basic science and human
observational models.
Carmen Ramos is broadly interested in the association between diverse family dynamics, including
coparenting andco-habitating grandparents, and the home food and weight-related environment
in preschool-aged children.
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.
Graduates of PhD-Nutritional Sciences
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.