Postdoctoral Scholar Lightning Talks, Featuring:
Kathy Fuller
"Consumer Preference for the “Meat of the Future”
Abstract: There is an ongoing debate regarding what to call cellular agricultural products. Cellular agriculture is the field of growing animal agricultural products directly from cell cultures instead of using livestock. This research uses a choice experiment framework to investigate consumer preference for naming conventions and willingness to try cellular meat products. We found that sociodemographic characteristics, food technology neophobia, and religiosity are key drivers of consumers’ decision-making for cellular meat products.
Bio: Dr. Fuller is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University under the supervision of Dr. Sean Cash. Her current research analyzes consumers’ acceptance and willingness to pay for food labels and novel food products. She analyzes sociodemographic factors that influence consumers’ decisions to purchase sustainable products. Her research interests include consumers’ responses to new product technologies, information, and policies.
Danielle Krobath
“Exploring the associations between contested racial identity and exposure to interpersonal discrimination on adult obesity risk”
Abstract: Preventable chronic conditions in the U.S. continue to worsen across sociodemographic lines. The current obesity prevention literature relies on self-reported race/ethnicity with the emerging consensus that exposure to interpersonal discrimination places members of minoritized Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) communities at disparate risk. However, race and ethnicity are complex social constructs associated with health through the immediate and intergenerational effects of racism, discrimination, and social hierarchies. For example, a contested racial identity indicates that an individual’s self-reported race/ethnicity does not align with how others perceive them. Previous research indicates that groups with contested identity may have poorer mental and physical health outcomes than those without contested racial/ethnic identity and they may be disproportionately exposed to interpersonal discrimination. Both interpersonal discrimination and contested racial identity are understudied and poorly understood in relation to weight status. In this talk, I will present findings from an ongoing study examining the joint influence of contested racial identity and interpersonal discrimination exposure on obesity risk using data from a nationally representative online survey of adults (n=1,700) in the U.S.
Bio: Danielle Krobath is the inaugural RSSP Collaborative Postdoctoral Scholar at Tufts University. With dual appointments at the Friedman School and the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development at Tufts, Dr. Krobath works across the Tufts Institute for Global Obesity Research (TIGOR) and Equity in Health, Wealth & Civic Engagement Priority Research Clusters to reveal structural determinants of nutrition and obesity inequities. Presently, she is testing novel quantitative techniques to assess the complex interactions between individual, interpersonal, and environmental factors on child and adolescent obesity risk.
Lu Wang
“Association of Ultra-processed Food Consumption with Colorectal Cancer Risk Among Men and Women in Three Large US Cohorts"
Abstract: Colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed malignancy among both men and women in the United States and the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Diet has been recognized as an important modifiable risk factor for colorectal cancer. Ultra-processed foods (i.e. industrial ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat formulations made of little or no whole foods) now contribute to 57% of total daily calorie calories consumed by American adults, which has been continuously increased in the past two 2 decades. These foods are usually high in added sugar, oils/fats, and refined starch, altering gut-microbiota composition unfavorably, and contributing to increased risk of weight gain and obesity, an established risk factor for colorectal cancer. The relationship between ultra-processed food consumption and colorectal cancer risk has yet to be evaluated in the US population. This talk will present a study examining the association between the consumption of ultra-processed foods and colorectal cancer risk among men and women from three large cohorts.
Bio: Lu Wang is a postdoctoral fellow at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. Her current research interests include modeling the health and economic impact, and cost-effectiveness of nutrition-related policies on reducing non-communicable disease burden, and understanding the role of diet on health outcomes in epidemiological studies. She completed her PhD in public health at the Erasmus University Medical Center.