Alexandra (Sandra) van den Berg, MPH, PhD

Professor, Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences
Associate Director, Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living
[email protected]

Dr. van den Berg is a researcher with over 20 years of experience in the development and evaluation of large behavioral and environmental interventions addressing health disparities associated with food insecurity and dietary behaviors and weight status in low income, ethnically diverse families living in underserved communities. Her research can be described by three broad themes: 1) development, implementation, and evaluation of cost-effective and sustainable interventions that increase access to healthy foods and promote sustainable local food systems; 2) examination of the relationship between environmental factors and subsequent health behaviors of children and their families; and 3) investigation of the role of health education/promotion in optimizing behavioral responses of children and their families to their environments. 

Dr. van den Berg is currently the PI of the federally-funded FRESH-Austin study, in which she and her team are measuring the impact of a local food access initiative implemented by the City of Austin (Fresh for Less) on low-income, mostly Hispanic residents’ purchasing and dietary behaviors. As part of this grant, the research team is also developing an agent-based model to simulate food access policy scenarios and their impact on food purchasing and consumption patterns. In a recently completed NIH study (NIH 1R01HL123865-01A1), the research team assessed the impact of a school-based gardening, nutrition, and cooking intervention to reduce obesity and related metabolic disorders in predominately Hispanic children living in low-income, rural, food desert communities. Dr. van den Berg was also the PI of the GAVA (the Go Austin!/Vamos Austin!) study which was a community based, multi-component obesity intervention designed to synergistically target the built and policy environments in low-income communities using a coalition-driven, system approach to produce changes designed to comprehensively address the obesogenic environment of children and adults.

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