I completed my PhD in behavioral nutrition at Teachers College Columbia University. My dissertation research analyzed differences in implementation and context during a school-based nutrition behavior change intervention to provide actionable direction for improving childhood obesity prevention interventions. This research was recognized by the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior and the Eastern Evaluation Research Society and has been published in Prevention Science. I have also published on methods for assessing policy needs in community nutrition and powering school-based interventions.

Immediately following my PhD, I joined Preventive Medicine and Nutrition in the Department of Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center as an NIH postdoctoral fellow. I researched policy and practice in nutrition support and sodium restriction interventions for heart failure patients, and mentored students in research addressing safety and efficacy in nutrition support and nutrition education of medical students.

Prior to my doctoral work, I completed my MS in nutrition education at Montclair State University where I worked as a research associate and the lab coordinator for the Developmental Systems Science and Evaluation Research Lab (now REDSS Lab), where I conducted NSF-funded research on evaluation capacity building and mentored undergraduate and graduate research assistants. I also hold a BA in music and psychology and an MAEd in curriculum and instruction from The College of William & Mary in Virginia