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The Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science WSPH

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Impact Statement

The Anderson Lab is committed to excellence in planning, development and implementation of relevant and timely research to meet the health-related needs of the populations we serve. Our commitment acknowledges the role of systemic inequities in health outcomes of various people based on their race, ethnicity, social status, gender identity, sexual orientation and other marginalized identity groups*.
 
We seek to promote accountability to our commitment by:
  • Creating all-inclusive policies and procedures that inform sustainable application of equity in our work.
  • Pursuing long-term individual and institution-wide learning of cultural humility, anti-racism, internalized bias systems, privilege and social disparities;
  • Maintaining updated, evidence-based evaluation and tracking to highlight and make impact in the alleviation of health inequities;
  • Building partnerships and collaborations with local, state, national and international groups and communities with shared values
 Furthermore, we are committed to fostering a diverse workplace environment that practices mutual respect and shared dignity to create opportunities for scholarly, professional and intellectual growth.
 
*The Anderson Lab also joins our university in the full acknowledgment that we utilize the unceded territory of the Kumeyaay Nation and its people.

Meet our Team

Anderson-Cheryl-PhD-MPH2.jpgCheryl Anderson, PhD, MPH, MS
Dr. Cheryl Anderson is a Professor and Dean of the University of California San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science. Dr. Anderson's research focuses on nutrition and chronic disease prevention in underserved populations using observational epidemiologic study designs, randomized clinical trials and implementation science. Her research projects include the California Teachers Study; a study of stable carbon isotopes as novel dietary biomarkers for sweetened foods; clinical trials addressing lifestyle and behavioral factors for obesity reduction in children; and the RESOLVE to save 100 million lives D&I initiative. Her body of work addresses the effects of dietary patterns, sodium and potassium intake on blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases; behavioral interventions for adherence to dietary recommendations; and identification of nutritional risk factors and for progression of kidney disease and development of cardiovascular events in individuals with chronic kidney disease. Dr. Anderson is the Director of the UC San Diego Center of Excellence in Health Behavior and Equity. She was a member of the 2015 US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and served on the National Academy of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board. She is the current Chair of the American Heart Association’s Nutrition Committee and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2016.


Associated Faculty

 

sweiss.jpgNatalie Sweiss, MD, FASN 
Dr. Natalie Sweiss is a board-certified nephrologist who cares for patients with kidney disease including chronic kidney disease, end-stage kidney disease and acute kidney injury. She provides apheresis and hemodialysis treatments to chronic and acute patients.  She currently is the medical director of the nephrology clinics at UC San Diego and the medical director of dialysis services at the VA San Diego. Dr. Sweiss’ past research interests include diabetic kidney disease, adiponectin effects on the kidney and the accuracy of home blood pressure monitoring. She is a fellow of the American Society of Nephrology (FASN) and has won several awards over the years, including the National Institutes of Health Physician Scientist Training Grant. She was also selected as chief resident after completing residency training. Dr. Sweiss continues to provide regular training to nephrology fellows, internal medicine residents and medical students. Dr. Sweiss completed fellowship training in nephrology and hypertension at UC San Diego School of Medicine, and residency training at Scripps Clinic and Scripps Green Hospital in San Diego. She received her medical degree from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in North Chicago, Ill. Dr. Sweiss completed additional training in home dialysis at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. She is board-certified in internal medicine and nephrology. Outside of work, Dr. Sweiss enjoys spending time with her family.

tala-photo.jpgTala Al-Rousan, MD, MPH

As a physician and epidemiologist born and raised in Jordan, a top refugee-hosting country in the world, Dr. Al-Rousan focuses her research on understanding migration as a social determinant of health.

Her passion for public health started as a medical student at Cairo University engaged in multiple health awareness projects on female genital mutilation among rural Egyptians and Afro-Arab migrants in Egypt. During her internal medicine residency training in Jordan, she cared for Palestinian, Yemeni, Iraqi and Syrian refugee patients and was a volunteer physician with Doctors Without Borders in Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, then in Sanaa, Yemen caring for internally displaced Yemenis. She later joined the leadership team in Geneva before immigrating to train under Dr. Bernard Lown, a renowned cardiologist, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility. Dr. Al-Rousan is a Senior Atlantic fellow for Equity in Brain Health at the University of California San Francisco and a Harvard Bernard Lown fellow at the Harvard T. H. Chan school of Public Health.

Her past research focused on marginalized populations including incarcerated racial and ethnic minorities, older adults with cognitive and memory impairment and refugees. Currently, she is leading multiple international and national research projects looking at links between past trauma, cardiovascular disease risk factors and cognitive function in refugees. Dr. Al-Rousan leads the Displacement and Health Research Center which focuses on studying displacement as a social determinant of health. The lab's research centers on equity to guide clinical and public health intervention development and guides policies related to displaced populations. Trainees will be future physicians, public health professionals, academics and social justice advocates devoted to bettering the lives of displaced populations worldwide. 

 

Bradley_Head-Shot-2017.jpgRyan Bradley, ND, MPH
Dr. Bradley received his clinical doctorate in naturopathic medicine from the Bastyr University in 2003 and his Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from the University of Washington School of Public Health in 2009. Bradley’s research expertise includes clinical trials of food, natural products and mind-body interventions, as well as nutritional and cardiovascular epidemiology. With an emphasis on lifestyle and health promotion towards primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, his research spans disciplines of complementary and integrative health, public health, preventive medicine, cardiology and endocrinology.

 

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Lindsay Miller, PhD, MPH

Dr. Miller teaches both undergraduate epidemiology and a healthy aging seminar course. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Biology from the University of Redlands, and both her Master of Public Health and Doctor of Philosophy in Epidemiology from Oregon State University, where her work focused on vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and frailty in older adults.


Dr. Miller joined UC San Diego in 2019 as a Nephrology-Hypertension T32 postdoctoral fellow. Dr. Miller is a principal investigator (PI) on a NIA-funded career development award (K01AG078486) that aims to utilize large-scale proteomics to identify protein patterns that associate with cognitive impairment and to identify a parsimonious panel of proteins that predict cognitive impairment in chronic kidney disease patients. During her postdoctoral studies, Dr. Miller was the PI on a NIDDK-funded F32 grant (F32DK127590) that focused on the associations of biomarkers of kidney tubule injury and dysfunction with cognitive function and MRI measures of cerebrovascular disease.


Collaborators

 

Linda Nie, PhD

Dr. Nie received her Bachelor of Science in Physics from Zhongnan University of Technology in China, a Master of Science in Medical Physics and a Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Physics from McMaster University in Canada. She did her postdoctoral training in nuclear instrumentation, exposure assessment and epidemiology at Harvard University before joining Purdue in 2009. She teaches courses in medical physics, health physics and radiation sciences. Her research focuses on x-ray and neutron technology development and the application of these technologies in the field of human health and medicine. Specifically, her group develops x-ray fluorescence, neutron activation analysis and synchrotron x-ray technologies to quantify metals and trace elements in the human body and in animals in vivo and in vitro. Her research goal is to build a bridge between novel technologies for metal/trace element quantification and mapping and the application of these technologies in human health.

 

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Connie M. Weaver, PhD

Dr. Weaver is a distinguished research professor in exercise and nutritional sciences at San Diego State University; and distinguished professor emerita of foods and nutrition at Purdue University, Indiana, where she taught food chemistry and nutrition courses and was department head for 25 years.

Dr. Weaver is an elected member of The National Academy of Medicine and a fellow of the American Society for Nutrition, the Institute of Food Technologists, the American Heart Association, and the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research. She is a member of the Science Advisory Boards to the Food and Drug Administration, the California Prune Board and Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center. Dr. Weaver is past president of American Society for Nutrition.

 


Post-Graduate Scholars

 

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Nicole Karongo, PhD, MPH, RDN, LDN

Nicole Karongo is a postdoctoral researcher and has a background in public health nutrition, health behavior, and community-based participatory research methods. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health (health behavior track) through the Joint Doctoral Program at UC San Diego and San Diego State University. Her doctoral research focused on the co-design and feasibility testing of a culturally tailored dietary intervention for East African immigrants, emphasizing community voice and implementation readiness.

Karongo began her career with a Bachelor of Science in Dietetics before pursuing a Coordinated Master of Public Health in Public Health Nutrition at the University of Minnesota. There, she collaborated with local organizations serving underrepresented communities and later worked at the Minnesota Department of Health. She joined the Anderson Lab in Fall 2019 as a graduate student researcher and registered dietitian, contributing to the development, implementation and analysis of multiple community-engaged studies. While in the lab, she also serves as a co-preceptor for the UC San Diego Health Dietetic Internship program.

She is now a postdoctoral scholar on the UC San Diego KIN Project, a Health Equity Research Network grant funded by the American Heart Association. Her interests include culturally responsive program design, structural determinants of dietary behavior and the practical integration of research into community health practice and the pursuit of food justice.

 


 Staff

 

valerie-mercer-photo.jpgValerie Mercer, MPH, MA
Valerie Mercer is a research program manager in the Anderson Lab. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of California San Diego and her Master of Public Health in Health Promotion, and Master of Arts in Latin American Studies from San Diego State University. Valerie discovered the field of public health during her time as a Peace Corps volunteer. As a result, she has been involved in various public health promotion and research projects in San Diego, Mexico, Central and South America since 2001. In addition to nutrition-focused research with the Anderson Lab, she has experience implementing research studies focusing on HIV, STIs, drug use, access and utilization of services among high-risk populations, migration and mHealth interventions for tuberculosis treatment.

 

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Amy Atun, MPH

Amy Atun is a research study coordinator in the Anderson Lab. She received her Bachelor of Science in Animal Science and Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from the University of California Davis. She then completed a Master of Public Health (MPH) at the University of California San Diego with a concentration in epidemiology. Throughout her MPH, she interned in the Anderson Lab where she developed an interest in hypertension research and chronic disease prevention

 

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Amy Grumann, MS, BSN, RN, PHN

Amy Grumann is a research study coordinator in the Anderson Lab. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Regis University. She began her career as a registered nurse and worked in various settings including pediatrics, pediatric and adult surgery, and clinical research. She realized that many patients she worked with suffered from preventable chronic diseases, so she earned a Master of Science in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine from University of Western States to learn an integrative approach to how nutrition and lifestyle factors affect chronic disease development. During the pandemic she started working in public health and developed a passion for working with underserved communities. Amy joined the Anderson Lab in 2022 to work on research projects that combine her interest in nutrition and chronic disease prevention with her passion for public health. 

 


Graduate Students

 

Tamara Benrey, Master of Public Health student


Undergraduate Students

 

 Mayari Gulati, Bachelor of Science in Public Health student

Jade Paschall, Bachelor of Science in Public Health student


Alumni 

Staff

Xochitl Aguinaga (2023-2025), Research Assistant

Alexandra (Celine) Arada (2022), Research Study Coordinator

Chorkin Chau, MPH (2021-2022), Research Study Coordinator

Kat Maysent (2023), Research Study Coordinator

Brittany Olesen-Olivera, MPH (2023-2024), Research Study Coordinator

Jolie Susan (2019-2025), Research Program Manager

 

Postdocs

Erica Ambeba, PhD, MPH (2019-2021)

 

Visiting Scholars

Song Yue, PhD (2023-2024), Purdue University

 

Graduate Students

Chia-Fang (Yvonne) Kao (2023-2025), Master of Public Health, UC San Diego

Pedro Lopez Soza (2023-2024), Master of Public Health, UC San Diego

Carissa McEwan (2020-2021), Master of Public Health, California State University San Marcos

Sesil Mariya Verghese (2023), Master of Public Health, UC San Diego

Melanie Wong (2023- 2024), Master of Public Health, UC San Diego

 

Undergraduates

Riya Agarwal (2023-2025), Public Health, UC San Diego

Zach Appauh (2022-2023), Public Health, UC San Diego

Rinoa Barbuto (2023-2025), Pre-medical Psychobiology, UCLA

Jaylene Camarillo (2023), Public Health, UC San Diego

Winnie Cheung (2023-2025), Global Health, UC San Diego

Karina Desai (2023-2025), Public Health, UC San Diego

Coby Dodson (2023), Public Health, UC San Diego

Guillermo Echeverria (2023), Public Health, UC San Diego

Alaizza Fortuno (2023-2024), Public Health, UC San Diego

Kaylin Fung (2024-2025), Global Health, UC San Diego

Dillion Gamette (2023-2024), Public Health, UC San Diego

Michelle Griffith (2023-2025), Public Health, UC San Diego

Aidan Hall (2024-2025), Global Health, UC San Diego

Sakina Jaffery (2023- 2024), Public Health, UC San Diego

Felicity Le (2021-2022), Public Health, UC San Diego

Ryan Mirin (2023-2025), Pre-medical Psychology, UCLA

Hong Anh Nguyen (2021-2024), Public Health, UC San Diego

Jennifer Nguyen (2023), Public Health, UC San Diego

Oluwatomi (Tomi) Oginni (2023-2024), Public Health, UC San Diego

Claudia Padilla (2019), Nutrition and Integral Wellness, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Guadalajara

McKayla Dasha Sarmiento (2023-2025), Public Health, UC San Diego

Rishi Shah (2023- 2024), Public Health, UC San Diego

Shane Shebest (2023), Biochemistry, Boston College

Krish Sheth (2021), Global Public Health and Anthropology, New York University

Laura Sterns (2019- 2021), Human Biological Sciences, UC San Diego

Diana Tran (2019), Public Health, UC San Diego

Amy Trinh (2023- 2024), Public Health, UC San Diego

Dumebi Uba (2023), Public Health, UC San Diego

Luolan (Lucy) Zhao (2023-2024), Public Health, UC San Diego

 

Dietetic Interns, UC San Diego Health

Keer Chen (2024-2025)

Corinna Costa (2024-2025)

Torina Hommes (2024-2025)

Jessica Peterson (2024-2025)

Lee Ehrmann (2024-2025)

Candice Stamper (2023-2024)

Tess Ellis (2023-2024)

Katia Enns (2023-2024)

Melissa Valderrama (2023-2024)

Kimberly Contreras (2022-2023)

Madeleine Gwynn (2022-2023)

Samantha Johansen (2022-2023)

Shelly Shmariahu (2022-2023)

Samantha Vesling (2022-2023)

Rami Bejjani (2021-2022)

Amy Brownstein (2021-2022)

Kristin Delaney (2021-2022)

Brooke Robinson (2021-2022)

Martin Rosas, Jr (2021-2022)

Charity Slatnick (2021-2022)

Isabella Gallardo (2020-2021)

Molly Ginsberg (2020-2021)

Tiffany Lum (2020-2021)

Morgan Robbins (2020-2021)

Christina Valdez (2020-2021)

 

Volunteers

Alyssa Romine (2022- 2023)

Research Activities and Funding

The US Ten-Day Seminar on the Epidemiology and Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke

The U.S. Ten-Day Seminar is an in-residence program offered annually for physicians, researchers, public health practitioners, nurses and other health care professionals. This unique training program is designed to provide training in new areas of investigation and application of new methods related to the promotion of cardiovascular health and prevention of heart diseases and stroke, including descriptive epidemiology, genetic epidemiology, tailored interventions and policy. The overall goal of the conference is to enhance the ability of participants to pursue successful careers related to the epidemiology and prevention of heart disease and stroke, and the promotion of cardiovascular health through development of competencies related to grant writing, manuscript development, and clinical and public health practice. Learn more.

  • 07/15/2025 - 06/30/2026
  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Cheryl Anderson
  • Funded by: National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NIH/NHLBI  R13 HL182311)

Blood Pressure Control Advancing Refugee Health Equity (BPCARE): an RCT of adherence

This research aims to improve antihypertensive medication adherence among refugees with hypertension by testing a culturally tailored intervention delivered by refugee community health workers in San Diego.

  • 08/01/2025 – 05/31/2030
  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Tala Al-Rousan
  • Co-Investigator: Dr. Cheryl Anderson
  • Funded by: National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NIH/NHLBI R01 HL173155)

KIN Project: Community Incubator Network 

Advancing Food Justice Through Partnered Community-Driven Research

Our goal is to work together with communities to make a way of doing research such that everyone has fair access to healthy food.

Community project: Our plan is to work together to make sure communities have a say about how money should be spent on research about food.

Academic project: Making good decisions about health needs input from both scientists and the community. We are working with community groups to build lasting research for food justice.

Training program: Right now, most training programs only focus on experts who have been trained in schools. But we believe that people who have lived expertise also have important knowledge. We are making a training program that includes both kinds of expertise.

What we hope to achieve: We will build lasting partnerships where all people speak up for what they need and embrace the value of different kinds of knowledge. We also want to create new research leaders who care about everyone having healthy food. We hope this will be a plan that other communities can use too. Learn more about the KIN Project.  Learn more about the Community Granting Program.

  • 07/01/2024 – 06/30/2029
  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Cheryl Anderson
  • Funded by: American Heart Association (AHA 24 HERN CDRA 1331171)

Research and Mentoring in the Clinical Epidemiology and Health Disparities of Cardiovascular Diseases and Hypertension

The primary aim of this grant is to conduct patient-oriented research and mentoring of early career scientists from diverse personal backgrounds and scholarly disciplines in the epidemiology and prevention of cardiovascular diseases and hypertension, with a focus on addressing health disparities by race/ethnicity.

  • 09/01/2024 – 08/31/2029
  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Cheryl Anderson
  • Funded by: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH/NHLBI K24 HL166951)

Food is Medicine Pilot Study: Food is Medicine for Patients with Heart Failure

The objectives of this pilot study are to determine if delivery of medically tailored meals improves diet quality of patients with heart failure living in San Diego and the Bay Area of California and if delivery of medically tailored meals is feasible and able to improve food access, food security and clinical measures, for patients with heart failure.

Findings from this study could inform availability, accessibility, use and insurance coverage of medically tailored meals for patients with heart failure. This has the potential to significantly improve diet quality, diet satisfaction and cardiovascular health. It aligns with a more equitable and holistic approach to healthcare that recognizes the vital role of nutrition in managing diet disparities related to chronic conditions like heart failure.

  • 10/01/2023 – 09/30/2024
  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Cheryl Anderson
  • Funded by: American Heart Association (AHA 24 RPG FIM 1198191)

HAWAASH2 Pilot Study: Healthy Eating With Spices and Herbs to Manage Hypertension

The goal of this pilot study is to assess the feasibility of conducting an intensive behavioral dietary intervention emphasizing home cooking while using spices and herbs to reduce sodium intake and maintain adherence to recommended sodium intake levels.

  • 12/01/2021-11/30/2025
  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Cheryl Anderson
  • Funded by: McCormick Science Institute

MEASURE Study: Sodium Regulation in Individuals on Known Dietary Sodium Intake

The objective of the MEASURE study is to examine how dietary sodium is used by the body. In a racially diverse sample of adults, we examine the effects of high and low dietary sodium intake on the storage and excretion of sodium and determine whether sodium distribution affects blood pressure. This has implications for how we interpret studies that use urine biomarkers of sodium; and our findings about tissue sodium storage have implications for managing hypertension and related conditions.

  • 09/15/2018 – 06/30/2023
  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Cheryl Anderson
  • Funded by: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH/NHLBI  R01 HL140488)

California Partnership for Personalized Nutrition

The goal of this study is to examine individual differences observed in response to different diets by studying the interactions between diet, genes, proteins, microbiome, metabolism and other individual contextual factors within the context of the "All of Us" cohort assembled by the National Institutes of Health.

  • 12/10/2021 – 11/30/2023
  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Alexander Borowsky
  • Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Cheryl Anderson
  • Funded by: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NIH/NICHHD UG1 HD107711) 

Hypertension Self-Management in Refugees Living in San Diego

This study assesses a protocol of home blood pressure monitoring and the feasibility of self-management of hypertension in Somali, Syrian and Iraqi refugees living in San Diego.

  • 06/01/2020 - 05/31/2026
  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Tala Al-Rousan
  • Funded by: National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NIH/NHLBI K23HL148530)

Effects of Avocado Intake on Nutritional Status of Families, Phase 2 

This research study focuses on the contribution of avocado intake to the reduction in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk of US families, by examining the effects of avocado intake on the overall nutritional status of families. Of particular interest is establishing these effects in ethnic populations such as Hispanics/Latinos. On average, Hispanic/Latinos are at increased risk for metabolic diseases that predispose to CVD. This randomized trial in Hispanic/Latino Americans aims to accurately determine the impact of avocados on the overall dietary pattern of their families.

  • 2020-2021
  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Matt Allison
  • Co-Investigator: Dr. Cheryl Anderson
  • Funded by: USDA Hass Avocado Board

EPIC Study: Effects of the "Glutathione Support for Health" Plan on Glutathione Status in Type 2 Diabetes

The overarching objective of the EPIC study is to determine the effectiveness of a food-based intervention on glutathione status and blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes.

  • 07/01/2019-06/30/2021
  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Ryan Bradley
  • Co-Investigator: Dr. Cheryl Anderson
  • Funded by: Krupp Research Endowment at UC San Diego

RESOLVE to Save Lives: An initiative of vital strategies

This initiative involves designing and implementing tailored interventions with the overall goal of saving 100 million lives from cardiovascular disease within the next 30 years. Resolve aims to achieve this goal by focusing on three main objectives: blood pressure control, global dietary sodium intake reduction and artificial trans-fat elimination. This initiative’s other main focus is epidemic prevention. The Prevent Epidemics team helps at-risk communities improve epidemic preparedness by offering technical, political and financial support. Resolve is also currently working with Bloomberg Philanthropies to assist low-income countries and cities with their COVID-19 responses. Learn more.  

  • 01/01/2018 – 12/31/2023
  • Principal Investigator (subcontract): Dr. Cheryl Anderson
  • Funded by: Bloomberg Initiatives, Chan-Zuckerberg Foundation, Gates Foundation

Clinician-Community Integration for Well-Being

  • 2017 - 2019
  • Principal Investigators: Dr. Cheryl Anderson, Dr. Kyung Rhee
  • Funded by: Pilot Grant Award, UC San Diego Center of Excellence in Health promotion and Equity

Parent Training Program to Improve Outcomes in Childhood Obesity Treatment 

The goal of this study is to evaluate whether a pediatric weight control program that incorporates comprehensive parenting training with behavioral therapy can increase weight loss in children compared to traditional family-based behavioral therapy programs.

  • 08/01/2016 – 07/31/2021
  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Kyung Rhee
  • Co-Investigator: Dr. Cheryl Anderson
  • Funded by: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIH/NIDDK R01 DK106157)

Effect of Treatment Dose on Childhood Obesity

The purpose of this study is to compare a less intensive guided self-help treatment with a more intensive family-based treatment for childhood obesity on child weight, nutrition and physical activity. Additionally, this study compares the treatments on cost-effectiveness.

  • 07/01/2016 – 06/302021
  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Kerri Boutelle
  • Co-Investigator: Dr. Cheryl Anderson
  • Funded by: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIH/NIDDK R01 DK108686) 

I-CAN Study: Use of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes to improve dietary assessment for cardiovascular disease prevention

The overall objective of this study is to find out more about whether testing isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen are valid biomarkers of diet. In this study, we use a novel approach to defining dietary intake to try to find out whether stable isotopes that are measured in blood, hair and fingernails are better at telling us about what people eat than the survey methods that are currently used.

  • 01/01/2016 - 06/30/2018
  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Cheryl Anderson
  • Funded by: American Heart Association, 16IRG27770080

Innovative Infrastructure to Enhance the California Teachers Study

The California Teachers Study (CTS) has collected high-quality and detailed exposure, biospecimens, cancer and clinical endpoint data on 133,477 female volunteers followed since 1995. The goals of this project renewal are to preserve existing resources that enable research and strategically expand areas that create high-value opportunities. As the CTS's participants pass through ages of high disease risk, we will conduct efficient linkages that capture new cancer, inpatient and outpatient hospitalization, mortality and geospatial data. Together with the CTS's commitment to facilitating open and broader use of its resources, this will create additional opportunities for impactful research on understudied areas of cancer risk and outcomes.

  • 09/01/2015 – 08/31/2025
  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Elena Martinez
  • Co-Investigator: Dr. Cheryl Anderson
  • Funded by: National Cancer Institute (NIH/NCI U01 CA199277 Sub 51974.2001759.669301)

Select Publications

Diet and lifestyle factors that impact cardiovascular disease risk and outcomes in minoritized populations

  • Hussain T, Franz W, Brown E, Kan A, Okoye M, Dietz K, Taylor K, Carson KA, Halbert J, Dalcin A, Anderson CAM, Boonyasai RT, Albert M, Marsteller JA, Cooper LA. The role of care management as a population health intervention to address disparities and control hypertension: A quasi experimental observational study. Ethnicity and Disease 2016, 26 (3): 285-294. PMCID: PMC4948794.
  • Daumit GL, Dickerson FB, Wang N, Dalcin A, Jerome GJ, Anderson CA, Young DR, Frick KD, Yu A, Gennusa JV, Oefinger M, Crum RM, Charleston J, Casagrande SS, Guallar E, Goldberg RW, Campbell LM, Appel LJ. The effects of a behavioral weight loss intervention in persons with serious mental illness: Results of the ACHIEVE Trial. N Engl J Med 2013; 368:1594-602.  PMCID3743095

  • Chatterjee R, Yeh H, Shafi T, Anderson C, Pankow JS, Miller ER, Levine D, Selvin E, Brancati FL (2011). Serum potassium and the racial disparity in diabetes risk: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study.  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2011 May; 93(5): 1087-91. PMCID: PMC3076658.

  • Anderson CA, Kumanyika SK, Shults J, Kallan MJ, Gans KM, Risica and PM. Assessing change in dietary fat behavior in a weight loss program for African Americans: A potential short method. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 2007; 107: 838-842.

 

Healthful dietary patterns, adiposity and cardiovascular disease risk factors in a multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis risk

  • Sacks FM, Carey VJ, Anderson CAM, Miller ER, Copeland T, Charleston J, Harshfield BJ, Laranjo N, McCarron P, Swain J, White K, Yee K, Appel LJ. Effects of lowering glycemic index of dietary carbohydrate on CVD risk factors and insulin sensitivity: The OmniCarb Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2014, 312(23): 2531-2541. PMCID: PMC4370345.

  • Mongraw-Chaffin M*, Foster MC, Kalyani RR, Vaidya D, Burke GL, Woodward M, Anderson CAM. Obesity severity and duration associated with incident metabolic syndrome: Evidence against metabolically healthy obesity in MESA. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 2016; 101(11): 4117-4124. PMCID: PMC5095229.

  • Mongraw-Chaffin ML, Allison MA, Burke GL, Criqui MH, Matsushita K, Ouyang P, Shah RV, Shay CM, Anderson CAM. CT derived body fat distribution and incident cardiovascular disease: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. J Clin Endocrinology Metab; 2017 Nov 1;102(11):4173-4183. PMCID: PMC5673276.

  • Mongraw-Chaffin ML, LaCroix AZ, Sears DD, Garcia L, Phillips LS, Salmoirago-Blotcher E, Zaslavsky O, Anderson CAM.  A prospective study of low fasting glucose with cardiovascular disease events and all-cause mortality: The Women's Health Initiative. 2017. Metabolism - Clinical and Experimental 2017May; 70:116-124. PMCID: PMC5402725.

 

Improved management of hypertension and other heart disease risk factors through lifestyle interventions using an expanded focus beyond the individual

  • McAdams-DeMarco M, Coresh J, Woodward M, Butler K, Kao L, Mosley T, Hindin, M, Anderson CAM. Hypertension status, treatment and control among spouse pairs in a middle-aged adult cohort. Am J Epidemiol. 2011 Oct 1; 174(7): 790–796. PMCID: PMC3203378.

  • Cobb LK, McAdams-DeMarco MA, Gudzune K, Anderson CAM, Demerath E, Woodward M, Selvin E, Coresh J. Changes in body mass index and obesity risk in married couples over 25 years, the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) cohort study. American Journal of Epidemiology. 2016 March 1; 183(5): 435-443. PMCID: PMC4772434.

  • Cobb LK, McAdams-Demarco M, Huxley RR, Woodward M, Koton S, Coresh J, Anderson CAM. The association of spousal smoking status with the ability to quit smoking: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. Am J of Epidemiol. 2014 May; 179(10): 1182-7. PMC 4010190

  • Chen L, Caballero B, Mitchell D, Loria C, Lin P, Champagne CM, Elmer PJ, Ard JD, Batch BC, Anderson CAM, Appel LJ. Reducing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages lowers blood pressure: A prospective study among US Adults. Circulation. 2010,121:2398-2406. PMCID: PMC2892032.

 

Evaluation of associations between food environment, diet intake and markers of healthy lifestyles

  • Sanchez-Flack JC​, Anderson CAM, Arredondo E, Belch G, Martinez ME, Ayala GX. Fruit and vegetable intake of US Hispanics by food store type: Findings from NHANES. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Disparities. 2019 Feb;6(1):220-229. doi: 10.1007/s40615-018-0517-7. Epub 2018 Jul 19. PMCID: PMC6953382.

  • Ratigan AR, Lindsay S, Lemus G, Chambers CD, Anderson CAM, Cronan TA, Browner DK, Wooten WJ. Factors associated with continued participation in a matched monetary incentive programme at local farmers' markets in low-Income neighbourhoods in San Diego, California. Public Health Nutr. 2017 Oct;20(15):2786-2795. PMCID: PMC10261514.

  • Cobb LK, Appel LJ, Franco M, Jones-Smith JC, Nur A, Anderson CAM. The relationship of the local food environment with obesity: A systematic review of methods, study quality and results. Obesity 2015; 12: 2517-9.  PMCID: PMC4482774.

  • Suarez JJ, Isakova T, Anderson CAM, Boulware LE, Wolf M, Scialla J. Food access, chronic kidney disease and hypertension in the United States. Am J Prev Med 2015; 49: 912-20.  PMCID4656149

 

Role of dietary sodium intake on health and characterization of methodological concerns in cohort studies that relate sodium to health

  • Anderson CAM, Cobb LK, Miller ER, Woodward M, Hottenstein A, Chang AR, Mongraw-Chaffin M, White K, Charleston J, Tanaka T, Thomas L, Appel LJ. Effects of a behavioral intervention that emphasizes spices and herbs on adherence to recommended sodium intake: results of the SPICE randomized clinical trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2015 Sep; 102(3): 671-679. PMCID: PMC4548171

  • Cobb LK, Anderson CAM, Elliott P, Hu FB, Liu K, Neaton JD, Whelton PK, Woodward M, Appel LJ. Methodological issues in cohort studies that relate sodium intake to cardiovascular disease outcomes. Circulation 2014; 129(10): 1173-86. PMID24515991

  • Appel LJ, Anderson CAM. Compelling evidence for public health action to reduce salt intake. New England Journal of Medicine. 2010; 362:650-652.

  • Anderson CAM, Appel LJ, Okuda N, Brown IJ, Chan Q, Zhao L, Ueshima H, Kesteloot H, Miura K, Curb JD, Yoshita K, Elliott P, Yamamoto ME, Stamler J. Dietary sources of sodium in China, Japan, United Kingdom, United States – Women and Men Ages 40-59: The INTERMAP study. J Am Diet Assoc. 2010; 110(5): 736-745. PMCID: PMC4308093.

A complete list of published work is available online.

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