We are pleased to announce that Amy Bessey, Mary Lavery, and Eric Sullivan, NAL undergraduate research assistants, will be joining nursing programs at Northeastern University, Johns Hopkins University, and Belmont University, respectively.
Amy Bessey received her Bachelor of Science in Nutrition. During her time in the NAL, Amy worked as an interviewer using the NDSR software to obtain dietary intake data. She joined the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Northeastern University in 2017.
Mary Lavery completed a Bachelor of Science in Public Health and a Bachelor of Fine Arts...Read more
Printer-friendly version
The NAL is excited to welcome Sara Donnelly, an undergraduate student in the Nutrition Department, to the lab. Sara has been an active member of the UMass community. Sara helped expand the Plant-Based Nutrition Club and volunteers with the Student Food Recovery Network which brings food from UMass dining to various locations in Amherst to provide free and healthy food for individuals who are food insecure. This summer Sara volunteered in Leogane, Haiti with YourStory International, which provides public health education and free health care to an impoverished region of Haiti.
Kiara Amaro-Rivera and Luotao Lin, Nutrition Department graduate students and NAL members, were awarded the 
The NAL is happy to welcome Luotao Lin, a MS student in the Nutrition Department, to the lab. Luotao achieved his bachelor’s degree in medicine from Chongqing Medical University in China. After graduation, he worked in Chongqing Yuzhong district Health Inspection Bureau. As a health inspection officer, he took part in the evaluation of medical institutions, radioactive health surveillance, occupational and school health inspection, and infectious disease control.
NAL provides pilot data to secure Tufts Foundation grant funding for The Springfield Go Fresh Mobile Farmer’s Market. The Go Fresh Mobile Market aims to increase access to fresh, culturally appropriate local produce to low income communities of color with dense populations of adults over 65. The grant will be used to develop, test, and document a sustainable mobile market model, manage the market, and to engage and develop capacity among other Massachusetts mobile markets to improve access to produce in food deserts.
The NAL is delighted to welcome Cara Leonard, a MS student in the Nutrition Department, to the lab. Cara received her BS degree in Nutrition from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. For her Honors Thesis, she researched the utilization of the “Maudsley Approach” in the treatment of adolescents with anorexia nervosa. The study examined the various methods which health care providers from the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM) use when combating the disorder. Cara found that American SAHM providers were familiar with the Maudsley treatment technique, but only 81% were utilizing it. Since the “Maudsley Approach” is considered the “gold standard” of treatment,...
Qiong Chen, Nutrition Department doctoral candidate and NAL member, was awarded the Peter L. Pellett Graduate Scholarship. This award is given to Nutrition Department graduate students with interests related to nutrition, food security, and international nutrition. Qiong won due to her interest in exploring technology and how it can work to improve health related behaviors among both U.S. and Chinese populations. Her goal is to become an instructor and researcher at an academic institution in China, since nutrition is a relatively new research field there. Qiong believes her experiences and education in the U.S. will...