Melisa Portuondo Danho, MPH, RD

Dietetic Specialist Internship Director
[email protected]

Melisa has a bachelor of science in Human Nutrition and Food Science and a bachelor of arts in Journalism from New Mexico State University. She earned her MPH at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health while completing her dietetic internship. Melisa oversees all aspects of program implementation for Dr. Sharma’s Healthy Eating Active Living maternal and infant health program. She also has the opportunity to assist in program delivery including nutrition education and food demonstrations. When not working she enjoys spending time with her family, cooking and shopping for interesting earrings.

Current Projects

HEAL (Healthy Eating Active Living)

This project is a clinic-community based intervention to implement an early life-cycle approach to obesity prevention among pregnant women and women with infants from low-income families.

Recent Publications

Pilot Evaluation of HEAL - A Natural Experiment to Promote Obesity Prevention Behaviors Among Low-Income Pregnant Women

Sharma, S. V., Chuang, R. J., Byrd-Williams, C., Danho, M., Upadhyaya, M., et al. (2018). Preventive medicine reports, 10, 254–262.