Assistant Professor
University of Rhode Island
Maya Vadiveloo, Ph.D., RD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences at the University of Rhode Island. She is a registered dietitian and nutritional epidemiologist whose research focuses on using behavioral theory to favorably influence food choices, dietary quality, weight control, and eventually cardiovascular health.
Dr. Vadiveloo is the Principal Investigator of the Big Data and Eating Decisions (Byte) lab. Her research group focuses on dietary assessment, diet quality, and modifying factors in the environment to favorably influence diet quality and obesity.
Drawing largely on sources of secondary data from large population studies, the goal of her lab is to develop interventions and recommendations that promote improvements in dietary quality, weight control, and cardiometabolic health at the population level.
The lab’s work spans domains including the role of dietary variety and energy density in promoting dietary quality, factors that influence purchasing decisions in food retail environments, and the role of weight discrimination in promoting metabolic dysregulation. The lab also investigates the influence of food policy on consumer decision making and public health.