Student Spotlight
Month: September 2021
NIH Presentation Highlight
This past Thursday, Seniors Bryn Haden and Kavya Iyer co-presented, “Perceived Neighborhood Environments: Health Impacts and Catalysts for Change” with Dr. Elizabeth Ackley at National Institutes of Health: State of the Science Convening on Food Insecurity, Neighborhood Food Environment, and Nutrition Health Disparities. The research both Bryn, a Public Health and Health & Exercise Science double major and Kavya, a Biochemistry major, conducted was all supported through the Center for Community Health Innovation and Honors Program here at Roanoke College. The purpose of their project is, “To describe the efficacy of the Roanoke Valley Community Healthy Living Index as a scalable model for evaluating neighborhood food and physical activity environments and catalyzing policy and infrastructure change [and] to outline recent findings pertaining to the relationship between perceived neighborhood environments and health outcomes in youth.” Through their research, Bryn and Kavya concluded that, “Perceptions of neighborhood food and physical activity environments demonstrate promise in evaluating neighborhood environments and informing tailored interventions.” Please join us in congratulating Bryn and Kavya for their hard work and phenomenal presentation!
Student Spotlight
We are excited to introduce “Student Spotlight” where each week a different student who participates in Research at Roanoke College will be featured. For this first week, meet Snigdha Somani, an Undergraduate Research Assistant who is working with Dr. Andreea Mihalache-O’Keef in the Public Affairs Department. Currently, Snigdha is working on a project titled, The First Year: Determinants of Infant Nutrition and Marketing Solutions for Community Stakeholders in the Roanoke Valley. “This project identifies infant nutrition patterns in Roanoke and the surrounding area, as well as some of the socioeconomic, demographic, and policy-related determinants of infant nutrition decisions. It is a unique data collection initiative intended to serve a variety of local stakeholders, like WIC. The main contribution of the project is to fill a gap in data on infant feeding in our area and on challenges and resources for mothers during baby’s first year of life. Additionally, the project tests a set of hypotheses regarding determinants of infant nutrition outcomes, with a focus on two broad categories: (1) socio-demographics; and (2) community culture and resources”, says Snigdha. Follow Snigdha and Dr. Mihalache-O’Keef on their journey with this project throughout the semester!