Research Program Coordinator II
MaineHealth Institute for Research
I am currently a research program coordinator at MaineHealth Institute for Research in Portland, Maine, working on various public health research projects for multiple PIs. I received my training from the University of Rhode Island for my undergraduate degree in Nutrition and Tufts University for my Master's in Nutrition and Master of Public Health. I have led research teams in my undergraduate research career as a team lead for a study looking at plant- and animal-based diets in college students in relation to anthropometric data and breath gases (methane and hydrogen) to understand the relationship between diet and gut activity. In my graduate career, I worked as a technician in a nutritional neuroscience laboratory, where I performed experience on rat brain tissue supplemented with blueberry serum. I also worked in the Food as Medicine space in rural Maine areas on a pilot program that delivered nutrition education and access to food at a food pantry.
I currently am most interested in how individuals make decisions to improve their nutrition and wellbeing, and understanding how health messaging can impact their decision to change their lifestyle and behaviors. I studied biochemical and molecular nutrition at the Tufts Friedman School for Nutrition Science and Policy to understand the sciences and mechanisms behind food and nutrition and how it affects our body; on the other hand, I studied behavioral sciences and health communication at the Tufts School of Medicine to learn how individuals identify a lifestyle change and understand how they carry out that decision. I believe it is essential to not only engage with the community of interest, but learn what the needs of the community are relative to their nutritional lifestyle desired changes.
At MaineHealth Institute for Research, I work within the Center for Interdisciplinary Population Health and Research (CIPHR). I assist in the day-to-day logistics of research studies and grant development. Related to nutrition, I have recently been assisting in developing research strategies and questions that would address essential outcomes of nutritional programs that are currently underway in Greater Portland and rural areas in Maine.