Program of Research.
I am a behavioral scientist with multidisciplinary training across psychology, human development, and nutrition science, and I direct the Child Health and Behavior Lab (HABLAB) at the University at Buffalo. HABLAB's research is centered on understanding and promoting healthy eating and growth beginning early in life. An overarching theme of our research program is to adapt and apply evidence-based approaches from the developmental and behavioral sciences to promote healthy eating behaviors in naturalistic contexts.
For example, there is robust research, much of which is from controlled settings, supporting the promise of strategies such as positive parenting, repeated taste exposures, and “healthy defaults” in promoting healthier eating behaviors and growth. Our team is applying this evidence in new ways to promote healthy eating in modern environments. This interdisciplinary research has the potential to make healthy eating easier by disrupting the automaticity with which we make unhealthy choices and cultivating enjoyment of healthy foods, as well as developmentally-appropriate, rewarding alternatives to eating. As we work to make healthy eating easier beginning early in life, our team works with a multidisciplinary team of collaborators and community partners in an effort to develop feasible, sustainable approaches with equitable reach. We are also interested in identifying intervention targets that have the potential to promote both healthy eating, as well as other aspects of child health and well-being, such as self-regulation and socio-emotional adjustment.
More information about current research studies can be found on the HABLAB website.
For example, there is robust research, much of which is from controlled settings, supporting the promise of strategies such as positive parenting, repeated taste exposures, and “healthy defaults” in promoting healthier eating behaviors and growth. Our team is applying this evidence in new ways to promote healthy eating in modern environments. This interdisciplinary research has the potential to make healthy eating easier by disrupting the automaticity with which we make unhealthy choices and cultivating enjoyment of healthy foods, as well as developmentally-appropriate, rewarding alternatives to eating. As we work to make healthy eating easier beginning early in life, our team works with a multidisciplinary team of collaborators and community partners in an effort to develop feasible, sustainable approaches with equitable reach. We are also interested in identifying intervention targets that have the potential to promote both healthy eating, as well as other aspects of child health and well-being, such as self-regulation and socio-emotional adjustment.
More information about current research studies can be found on the HABLAB website.