Primary Investigator: Marcia Otto, PhD
Project Team
Primary Investigator
Marcia Otto, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology
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Kristen Sandulache, RD
Registered Dietitian, School of Public Health
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Savi Appana, MS
Biostatistician, School of Public Health
Ji Yun Tark, MPH
Graduate Research Assistant, School of Public Health
Kimberly Morrison, MPH
Trainee, School of Public Health
Project Partners: MD Anderson Cancer Center and Michael E. DeBakey Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
The goal of this prospective investigation is to advance scientific understanding of the role and relevance of diet diversity for diet quality and risk of cardiovascular disease among U.S adults.
Project Contact: Anne Marie Thompson, MPH
Project Team
Anne Marie Thompson, MPH
Senior Program Manager
Center for Health Equity
Shreela Sharma, PhD, RDN, LD
Director, Center for Health Equity
Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Epidemiology
Heidi Hagen McPherson, MPH
Co-Lead, Health Equity Collective
Project Manager
Naomi Tice, MPH
Center for Health Equity
The Community and Stakeholder Engagement Studio (CSES) at the Center for Health Equity offers researchers a consultative service, assisting in effective study design, intervention planning, impactful implementation, evaluation, and sustainability to support health equity for community organizations and their research partners.
Project Contact: Naomi Tice, MPH
UTHealth Houston School of Public Health Team
Shreela Sharma, PhD, RDN, LD
Director, Center for Health Equity
Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Epidemiology
Ryan Ramphul, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology
Project Manager
Naomi Tice, MPH
Center for Health Equity
Project Partners
Co-Founder
Program Manager
Collaborators
The field of Food Is Medicine is at critical juncture, having gained national attention and recognition for its ability to prevent and address chronic health conditions. Understanding the current landscape of Food Is Medicine (FIM) initiatives in Texas is key to harnessing this momentum and translating it into policy change.? The Center for Health Equity, in partnership with the Texas Consortium for NMDOH, is building out a three-pronged approach to organizing and strengthening the FIM landscape in Texas.
Project Contact: Shreela Sharma, PhD, RDN, LD
Principal Investigator
Ru-Jye (Lindi) Chuang, DrPH
Assistant Professor, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences
Study Partners
Brighter Bites and Penn State Better Kid Care
This quasi-experimental study examines the short- and long-term effectiveness of the Nurturing Healthy Teachers, a school-based intervention that provides fruits and vegetables plus a web-based teachers' wellness program in improving food insecurity, diet quality and cardiometabolic health among teachers of elementary school age children.
Project Contact: Heidi Hagen McPherson, MPH
Project Team
Shreela Sharma, PhD, RDN, LD
Co-Lead, Health Equity Collective
Director, Center for Health Equity
Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Epidemiology
Heidi Hagen McPherson, MPH
Co-Lead, Health Equity Collective
Maggie Green, MPA
Program Manager, Health Equity Collective
Implementation and evaluation of a bi-directional closed-loop referral demonstration project that allows healthcare and social service organizations to implement a "no wrong door" approach by referring patients/clients to the any of the social services they need.
Project Contact: Shreela Sharma, PhD, RDN
Project Team
Principal Investigator
Shreela Sharma, PhD, RDN, LD
Director, Center for Health Equity
Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Epidemiology
Co-Investigator
Christine Markham, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences
Co-Investigator
Ru-Jye (Lindi) Chuang, DrPH
Assistant Professor, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences
Co-Investigator
Prajakta Yergai, MD
Assistant Professor, McGovern Medical School
Co-Investigator
Vinay N. Prabhu, MD
Assistant Professor, McGovern Medical School
Co-Investigator
Sandra McKay, MD
Associate Professor, McGovern Medical School
Co-Investigator
Allison Marshall, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Cizik School of Nursing
Mallika Mathur
Graduate Research Assistant
Matt Tang
Graduate Research Assistant
Study Partners
Brighter Bites and Penn State Better Kid Care
This comparative effectiveness randomized controlled trial evaluates the clinical effectiveness of two different produce prescription strategies (at-home delivery and grocery store vouchers) in improving obesity-related health outcomes and dietary behaviors among a cohort of children aged 5-12 years old who are Medicaid eligible in Houston, Texas.
Project Contact: Heidi Hagen McPherson, MPH
Project Team
Shreela Sharma, PhD, RDN, LD
Co-Lead, Health Equity Collective
Director, Center for Health Equity
Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Epidemiology
Heidi Hagen McPherson, MPH
Co-Lead, Health Equity Collective
Principal Investigator
Jemima John, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor Department of Epidemiology
Co-Investigator
Rosalia Guerrero
Director, Vulnerable Populations
Texas Epidemic Public Health Institute (TEPHI)
Program Manager
Maggie Green, MPA
Health Equity Collective
The Health Equity Collective (“Collective”) is a systems coalition focused on improving care coordination across systems to improve social determinants of health needs in Greater Houston region. The Collective includes more than 200 organizations, with UTHealth Houston serving as the backbone organization.
Project Contact: Ru-Jye (Lindi) Chuang, DrPH
Project Team
Principal Investigator
Shreela Sharma, PhD, RDN, LD
Director, Center for Health Equity
Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Epidemiology
Co-Principal Investigator
William D. Perkison, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
Co-Principal Investigator
Ru-Jye (Lindi) Chuang, DrPH
Assistant Professor, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences
Co-Investigator
Christine Markham, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences
Co-Investigator
Ryan Ramphul, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology
Co-Investigator
Maria Fernandez, PhD
Director, Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research
Andrew Springer, DrPH
Associate Professor, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences
Study Partner
Brighter Bites is an evidence-based coordinated school health intervention proven to improve intake of fruits and vegetables among low-income children and their families. Our program evaluation core evaluates the efficacy and implementation outcomes of Brighter Bites among elementary school children in the programming cities.
Project Contact: Maggie Green, MPA
Project Team
Shreela Sharma, PhD, RDN, LD
Co-Lead, Health Equity Collective
Director, Center for Health Equity
Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Epidemiology
Heidi Hagen McPherson, MPH
Co-Lead, Health Equity Collective
Maggie Green, MPA
Program Manager, Health Equity Collective
This initiative aims to strengthen the Community Health Worker ecosystem by advancing organizational policies and practices that will support the CHWs in their career development and workforce.
Primary Investigator: Marcia Otto, PhD
Project Team
Primary Investigator
Marcia Otto, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology
Kristen Sandulache, RD
Registered Dietitian, School of Public Health
Savi Appana, MS
Biostatistician, School of Public Health
Ji Yun Tark, MPH
Graduate Research Assistant, School of Public Health
Kimberly Morrison, MPH
Trainee, School of Public Health
Project Partners: MD Anderson Cancer Center and Michael E. DeBakey Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
U-DINE is a longitudinal, multi-cohort study which aims to 1) quantify dietary patterns and insufficiencies and 2) evaluate the impact of cancer and related treatment on suboptimal diet among oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) patients over the continuum of cancer care.
Project Contact: Ru- Jye (Lindi) Chuang, DrPH
Project Team
Principal Investigator
Ru-Jye (Lindi) Chuang, DrPH
Assistant Professor, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences
Adapting and testing the validity of an existing readiness measurement tool in the school setting based on semi-structured individual interviews with school staff and programming staff to better understand school readiness for Brighter Bites implementation.
Project Contact: Naomi Tice, MPH
Project Team
Principal Investigator
Shreela Sharma, PhD, RDN, LD
Director, Center for Health Equity
Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Epidemiology
Principal Investigator
Nalini Ranjit, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences
Co-Investigator
Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, DrPH
Distinguished Professor, Tufts University
Co-Investigator
Ronit Ridberg, PhD
Research Assistant Professor, Tufts University
Project Manager
Naomi Tice, MPH
Center for Health Equity
Research Coordinator
Wesley Gibson, MPH
Center for Health Equity
Study Partners
About Fresh, Texas Children's Health Plan, and Tufts University
This project evaluates the implementation and impact of a medically-tailored retail produce prescription program (Fresh Connect) on gestational weight gain, and other pregnancy and birth outcomes among high-risk pregnant mothers receiving care at Texas Children's Health Plan. Additionally, we will test the effectiveness of an enhanced cardholder engagement on the redemption of the produce prescription at the retail grocery stores.
Project Contact: Jemima John, PhD
Principal Investigator
Jemima John, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor Department of Epidemiology
Project Partners
The Medical Legal Partnership evaluation framework convenes domains across the RE-AIM framework to qualitatively and quantitatively assess measures of interest around social needs that disproportionately impact populations of low income and of color.
Project Contact: Jemima John, PhD
Project Team
Principal Investigator
Shreela Sharma, PhD, RDN, LD
Director, Center for Health Equity
Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Epidemiology
Co-Principal Investigator
Jemima John, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Epidemiology
Project Partners
Using a randomized controlled design to determine the preliminary impact of financial coaching plus lifestyle intervention in improving weight loss, while also improving secondary endpoints such as cognitive functioning, metabolic functioning, and psychosocial and health behavior outcomes.
Project Contact: Naomi Tice, MPH
Project Team
Principal Investigator
Shreela Sharma, PhD, RDN, LD
Director, Center for Health Equity
Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Epidemiology
Principal Investigator
Nalini Ranjit, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences
Project Manager
Naomi Tice, MPH
Center for Health Equity
Research Coordinator
Maha Almohamad, MS
Graduate Research Assistant, Center for Health Equity
Project Partners
Harris Health System, Brighter Bites, and Planet Harvest
This project assesses the impact of a robust produce prescription program that provides consistent access to fresh produce through home delivery plus nutrition education impacts gestational weight gain and other pregnancy and birth outcomes in low-income, ethnically diverse, high-risk pregnant women receiving care at Harris Health Systems in Harris County.
Project Contact: Jennifer Aiyer, MPH, RD
Project Team
Co-Principal Investigator
Shreela Sharma, PhD, RDN, LD
Director, Center for Health Equity
Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Epidemiology
Co-Principal Investigator
Nalini Ranjit, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences
Research Coordinator
Naomi Tice, MPH
Project Manager, Center for Health Equity
Research Coordinator
Jennifer Aiyer, MPH, RD
Center for Health Equity
Research Coordinator
Wesley Gibson, MPH
Center for Health Equity
Study Partners
This project assesses if a Houston Food Bank (HFB) comprehensive food prescription (Food Rx) program, providing consistent access to healthy food plus nutrition education, impacts gestational weight gain, other pregnancy and birth outcomes, and food and nutrition security in low-income, ethnically diverse, at-risk women residing in Houston, TX.
Project Contact: Ru-Jye (Lindi) Chuang, DrPH
Project Team
Co-Principal Investigator
Ru-Jye (Lindi) Chuang, DrPH
Assistant Professor, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences
Co-Principal Investigator
Shreela Sharma, PhD, RDN, LD
Director, Center for Health Equity
Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Epidemiology
Co-Investigator
Christine Markham, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences
Study Partners: MD Anderson Cancer Center and Brighter Bites
This study evaluates the impact of a Brighter Bites coordinated school health intervention on obesity measures, metabolic parameters, dietary intake, and food security status in low-income children and their parents residing in Acres Homes, a persistent poverty area of Houston, Texas.
Project Contact: Ru-Jye (Lindi) Chuang, DrPH
Principal Investigator
Ru-Jye (Lindi) Chuang, DrPH
Assistant Professor, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences
To promote healthy diet and participants’ perceived helpfulness and confidence in preparing fruits and vegetables through community cooking classes and cooking video development.
