About the Author
I am currently a post-doctoral fellow with the Monell Chemical Senses Center. My current research focuses on infants and how early experience shapes the development of flavor and food preferences and eating behaviors during infancy, as well as the long term implications of this early experience for later dietary patterns and obesity risk.
I received a B.S. in Psychology with an emphasis in Biology and a minor in Community Nutrition from the University of California, Davis in 2003. In 2005, I earned two Master’s degrees from the Pennsylvania State University: one in Nutritional Sciences and the other in Human Development and Family Studies. In May of 2008, I completed my graduate work, earning a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University.
Throughout my undergraduate and graduate training, I have assisted with and/or conducted research on a wide realm of health-related topics, ranging from the origins of autism to the acceptability of electric vehicles to breastfeeding promotion to the prevention of obesity. My graduate work was mainly focused on the etiology and development of childhood obesity, and how the family environment contributes to the development of children’s eating behaviors, dietary patterns, growth patterns and eventual weight status and metabolic outcomes. I plan to continue on in this field in my future endeavors.