Associate Professor
The Pennsylvania State University
Dr. Muzi Na is an assistant professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Na earned a PhD in human nutrition and an MHS in biostatistics from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Before joining Penn State, she did her postdoctoral training at University of California, Davis in nutritional epidemiology and global nutrition. Dr. Na’s research program explores food insecurity, nutrition, psychosocial and behavioral factors in relation to a variety of health outcomes in vulnerable populations. Specifically, Dr. Na’s research interest centers on promoting nutrition, mental and sleep health among mothers, infants, children, and low-income populations through modifiable nutritional and behavioral interventions. As the PI or co-PI, Dr. Na has led several maternal and child nutrition projects in international settings funded by UNICEF, USAID-CRS, and GAIN. Dr. Na is currently leading two pilot research projects that are funded by the Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute and Social Science Research Institute on how food insecurity influences affect, sleep, heart health and cognitive function in low-income populations. For her health disparity research, Dr. Na has been appointed as the Broadhurst Career Development Professor for the Study of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in 2019. Currently, Dr. Na serves as the secretary for the Community and Public Health Nutrition Research Interest Section at the American Society for Nutrition and as associate editor for the Nutrition Journal.