CPH Student Research

Food as medicine: Six insights from a 911�� nutrition expert

Heather Carroll — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 15:08:52 +0000

Food as medicine: Six insights from a 911�� nutrition expert Heather Carroll Mon, 08/17/2026 - 11:08

In This Story

Key Takeaways

911�� nutrition expert and registered dietitian Raedah Basiri shared six key lessons with Honors College students, emphasizing that personalized, gradual nutrition changes are often more effective than one-size-fits-all approaches to preventing and managing chronic disease.
Basiri highlighted the importance of nutrition in health care, noting that diet-based interventions, supported by technology and real-time feedback, can improve long-term health outcomes and encourage healthier behaviors.
She also stressed that nutrition support remains essential even when patients use weight-loss medications, and that building trust between patients and health care providers is critical.

911�� community health students share their insights from nutrition professor and registered dietitian Raedah Basiri for their Honors College project exploring nutrition interventions for chronic disease.

Community Health student Janay Hopgood

The concept of food as medicine is gaining traction as a way to prevent and manage chronic disease. During an Honors College consulting course (Honors 260), community health student Janay Hopgood and a teammate interviewed Raedeh Basiri, assistant professor of nutrition and a registered dietitian, to inform their approach.

Their project challenged them to develop an innovative solution to improve long-term health outcomes and prevent chronic disease among a health care organization partner.

"We aimed to integrate nutrition into health care by leveraging technology, community partnerships, and data-driven strategies to promote healthier lifestyles and advance health equity," Hopgood said. "Dr. Basiri helped us better understand which avenues of research and implementation were realistic, challenged common misconceptions, and provided thoughtful feedback. Most importantly, she created a space where we could openly discuss our developing concept and draw upon her knowledge and experience."

Here are six insights that Hopgood and her partner developed from their interview with Basiri:

Personalization matters.
Effective nutrition interventions start with collecting comprehensive data to understand the whole person, including their food access, finances, lifestyle, physical activity, and living environment. One-size-fits-all recommendations rarely work, Basiri said.
Start small.
Bombarding people with too much nutrition information at once isn't sustainable. Introducing small, personalized changes gradually is more likely to improve health outcomes.
Nutrition is too often overlooked in favor of medication.
Basiri highlighted a gap between nutrition research and clinical practice. When lifestyle changes don't produce immediate results, patients often get moved to medication despite strong evidence supporting the long-term benefits of dietary interventions.
Real-time feedback encourages behavior change.
Basiri said technology can help patients better understand how food affects their health, especially for those with limited access to a physician. Continuous glucose monitors provide real-time feedback that can increase compliance, while artificial intelligence tools can help deliver similar personalized guidance.
Weight-loss medications still need nutritional support.
Although GLP-1 medications are effective for weight loss, Basiri noted that they can also contribute to issues such as malnutrition, hair loss, and bone density loss. Nutrition support, she said, can help ensure patients don't "solve the problem and create another one."
Trust is the foundation of lasting impact.
Basiri emphasized that successful nutrition programs are built on trust, both between nutrition practitioners and patients, and between nutrition practitioners and other health care professionals. Positive outcomes are most likely to create that trust, leading to more referrals and greater demand for nutrition-based services.

Topics

CPH Student Research

Nutrition and Weight Management

Weight Control

College of Public Health

Research

Students

Honors College

Case study winners share how the competition prepares students for public health careers

Heather Carroll — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:32:58 +0000

Case study winners share how the competition prepares students for public health careers Heather Carroll Tue, 08/04/2026 - 10:32

Key Takeaways

Three 911�� College of Public Health interdisciplinary teams earned national recognition in the 2026 National Case Study Competition in Health Education, winning two gold awards and one bronze for developing evidence-based mental health interventions.
Students said the competition provided valuable hands-on experience in public health program planning, while strengthening their professional skills, confidence, and ability to solve complex health challenges.
Participants emphasized that working across disciplines was one of the most important lessons, showing how diverse perspectives and expertise lead to stronger public health solutions and better career preparation.

In This Story

Michelle S. Williams, PhD, MSPH

Three 911�� interdisciplinary teams placed in the 2026 National Case Study Competition in Health Education. Students share what they learned from the experience and why they recommend it to others.

Three 911�� interdisciplinary teams placed in the 2026 National Case Study Competition in Health Education. Students say the experience strengthened their public health skills, expanded their professional networks, and reinforced the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration.

Ananya Edupuganti

Through the competition, students gained hands-on experience in public health program planning, built confidence in addressing complex health challenges, and learned how professionals from different disciplines work together to develop effective solutions. Three College of Public Health teams earned national recognition, including two gold awards and one bronze. Graduate teams Manisha Jagdesh Leemani, and Isela Caballero and Jessica Hively and Ananya Edupuganti each earned gold awards, while undergraduate students Michael Kaleem and Ava Parker earned bronze. Associate Professor in the Department of Global and Community Health Michelle Williams advised all three teams.

The annual competition challenges undergraduate and graduate students to develop evidence-based solutions to real-world public health problems. This year's participants were tasked with designing culturally responsive mental health interventions for youth and their families.

"This is a unique opportunity for a nursing student [to be able to participate in a public health case competition] due to the nursing school’s location within the College of Public Health. As an undergraduate and master’s student at a different university, I was not aware of similar opportunities and have found it to be a really valuable learning experience,” said Hively, who is working on a Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) and graduate certificate in public health.

All of the participants described the competition as both challenging and rewarding. Their experiences highlighted three key takeaways: gaining real-world intervention planning experience, building professional skills and confidence, and learning the value of interdisciplinary collaboration.

What did students gain from participating in the case competition?

Real-world intervention planning experience

Beyond designing interventions, participants said the competition helped them develop practical workplace skills that will benefit them throughout their careers.

Ava Parker

“I thought that this would be an incredible opportunity to gain skills necessary for successful public health program planning, it would open doors to network with like-minded faculty and students, and I could contribute to something that I am passionate about. I knew that this experience was going to be so much fun, and I was right: This was amazing!” said student Ava Parker, who is working on a bachelor's degree in community health.

The undergraduate team explored how district-wide partnerships with local schools and community organizations in Portland, Oregon, could support culturally relevant mental health awareness, early intervention, and peer support programs to better serve students.

“I saw it as an opportunity to gain hands-on experience while working alongside another graduate student. It ended up being one of the most rewarding experiences of my graduate program and reinforced my passion for public health,” said Caballero, a MPH student.

Building skills and confidence

“This case competition was incredibly helpful in building skills and confidence needed to create targeted public health programs. I learned how to effectively and efficiently work as a team, where each person is able to contribute their own sets of skills to find solutions to public health problems,” said Parker, who would like to pursue a career in infectious disease surveillance at the local, state, or federal level.

Michael Kaleem

“I learned that program implementation takes time and careful planning. Additionally, you have to be as realistic as possible and think a lot about the what ifs because there could be a lot of holes poked in your methodology if you do not think about these things,” said Honors College student Michael Kaleem, who has completed a BS in Community Health and also pursuing an accelerated master's in public health.

“This case competition was much more public health-focused, which challenged me to rethink how I approached problems as an administrator. I had to look beyond financial sustainability and operational considerations and think more deeply about community impact, health equity, and population health outcomes. It was a great opportunity to challenge myself, learn from a different perspective, and grow both personally and professionally,” said Ananya Edupuganti, Master of Health Administration ’26.

The graduate teams developed a culturally responsive mental health intervention that partnered with a local Native American organization to deliver CBT-based programming for youth and their caregivers.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Perhaps the most significant takeaway was learning how professionals from different disciplines can work together to address complex public health challenges. Case competitions provide students the opportunity to work with students and faculty in other disciplines they may not interact with in their classes. Interdisciplinary collaboration is key to public health.

Jessica Hively

“I participated in the case competition because I was interested in the opportunity to work with an interdisciplinary team. I am an MSN to DNP and graduate certificate in public health student, and Ananya was a Master of Health Administration student. These types of interdisciplinary opportunities mimic the ‘real-world’ public health and health care environments and are great opportunities for learning,” said Hively.

“The most valuable lesson I learned was how much we can learn from people with different backgrounds and experiences. Our collaboration reminded me that the strongest solutions are rarely developed in isolation; they come from bringing together different areas of expertise, listening to one another, and working toward a shared goal. That experience is something I will carry with me throughout my career in health care,” said Edupuganti, who recently accepted a position with UF Health Shands Hospital in health care operations and analytics.

Advice for students considering participating in a case competition

Jagdesh Leemani and Isela Caballero

“Go for it, even if it's your first one. It's a great opportunity to step outside your comfort zone and apply what you've learned to real-world challenges. Don't worry about having all the answers. Focus on learning from the experience, trust your teammates, and enjoy the process,” said Caballero.

"Treat the competition as an opportunity to learn rather than as a test of what you already know. Some of the most valuable lessons come from discussing different ideas, receiving feedback, and refining your thinking along the way. You don't need to have all the answers, you just need to stay curious, contribute your perspective, and be open to learning from others," said Manisha Jagdesh Leemani, MS Health Informatics '26.

Students say the experience offers an invaluable opportunity to apply classroom learning to real-world public health challenges, collaborate across disciplines, and build skills that translate directly to future careers.

Topics

CPH Student Research

Student Research

competitions

College of Public Health

Students

Honors College

Public health doctoral candidate’s dissertation awarded in university-wide Three Minute Thesis competition

Taylor Thomas — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 14:56:30 +0000

Public health doctoral candidate’s dissertation awarded in university-wide Three Minute Thesis competition Taylor Thomas Mon, 12/08/2025 - 09:56

Rooshna Mohsin, a PhD in public health student, was this year’s third-place winner in 911��’s annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, a research communication competition for PhD candidates across the university. Competitors are judged on their ability to present the significance of their dissertation or thesis research using a single slide and within a strict three-minute time limit.

Rooshna Mohsin. Photo provided.

Mohsin offered a compelling presentation on dietary and social exposure to PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), commonly known as forever chemicals, among Hispanic children.

“I found that animal-based foods were associated with higher levels of some PFAS, while taking part in free/reduced school-based meal programs were associated with lower levels. When analyzing associations between PFAS and vitamin D, we found some PFAS were associated with higher levels of vitamin D, which may imply interference of PFAS in vitamin D metabolism in the body,” Mohsin explained of her research’s key findings.

Her full work is entitled Balancing the Risks: Dietary and Social Predictors of PFAS Exposure and Associated Health Outcomes in Hispanic Children.

Mohsin intends to build upon her findings next steps by evaluating the associations between PFAS and cardio metabolic measures (blood pressure and cholesterol) in Hispanic children, which are pediatric measures of heart disease later in life.

The competition took place on November 7, 2025, and was organized by the Graduate Division of the Provost’s Office. PhD students from the College of Education and Human Development, College of Engineering and Computing, College of Humanities and Social Science, College of Public Health, and College of Science participated. A panel of eight judges evaluated the presentations on a diverse range of topics, including the integration of Gen-AI in K-12 classrooms and novel approaches to combating bacteria and biofilms.

Congratulations to all 3MT winners!

Topics

PhD in Public Health

College of Public Health

Is AI more helpful than humans in health care?

Taylor Thomas — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 13:35:18 +0000

Is AI more helpful than humans in health care? Taylor Thomas Thu, 04/11/2024 - 09:35

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly expanding to increase productivity and quality in both personal and professional settings, performing tasks previously thought only humans were capable of completing. Like other industries, health care is implementing this technology to enhance patient experiences and improve health outcomes, specifically using conversational agents like chatbots and AI-based conversational large language models (LLM), such as ChatGPT. Conversational agent apps have been developed for personalized health coaching, blood pressure monitoring, medication reminders and motivational coaching for healthy eating and physical activity to name a few.

The eHealth market relies on a direct-to-consumer business model that avoids costly regulatory compliance studies that assess their effectiveness. Chatbot apps offer the potential to improve consumer uptake and treatment adherence leading to a stable business revenue base. However, research conducted by Public Health PhD candidate Kevin Cevasco and colleagues concluded that despite popular claims, there is not enough evidence to conclude chatbots have better patient uptake and adherence than non-chatbot apps, such as in addressing anxiety and depression care.

“It is unclear if chatbots improve patient experiences or if trends to include chatbots in electronic health applications are due to technology hype cycles and pressures to innovate,” said Cevasco. “The real impact of chatbot-enabled applications is largely unknown.”

Cevasco and team reached these conclusions after conducting a systematic literature review and meta-analysis which sought to confirm if publications proclaiming the efficacy of electronic health (eHealth) chatbots provide measures for user engagement, adherence, and working alliance.

“We selected studies where chatbot applications were patient-facing with health education, monitoring, or treatment-related purposes. We selected studies with primary measures that were focused on the user’s health outcomes and engagement with the applications,” said Cevasco.

After thorough screening, Cevasco and team discovered that there are very few randomized controlled trials on eHealth chatbot applications. From the small sample of publications available, the documented evidence suggests that patient engagement with chatbot eHealth applications is not conclusively better than human interventions or apps without conversational agents.

“The small number of studies available suggests researchers should include methods for measuring patient uptake, engagement, and working alliance in their ongoing conversational agent research.”

Despite the few research studies that support the claims of AI’s effectiveness in health care settings, Cevasco and colleagues’ work expands on the future implications of the clinical applications of LLMs. Currently, 50% of patients do not adhere to their prescribed medication regimens, and Cevasco is optimistic about the potential for AI to improve patient care if developed and implemented correctly.

“Although chatbots have the potential for improving personalized medicine by increasing health literacy and providing easily available and understandable health information, it is important the applications have the capacity to address the complexity of different health challenges,” said Cevasco

Contributing authors include College of Public Health MPH in Epidemiology alumna Rachel Morrison, PhD in Health Services Research student Rediet (Redd) Woldeselassie, and Seth Kaplan, professor of Psychology in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

“Patient engagement with conversational agents in health applications 2016-2022: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis" was published online April 10, 2024, in the Journal of Medical Systems.

Topics

digital innovation

Patient Experience

PhD in Public Health

public health research

Tech Talent Investment Program (TTIP)

Artificial Intelligence

CPH Student Research

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals found in menstrual products including tampons, pads, and liners

Mary Cunningham — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 16:18:54 +0000

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals found in menstrual products including tampons, pads, and liners Mary Cunningham Fri, 12/15/2023 - 11:18

In This Story

Anna Pollack, PhD, MPH

Joanna Marroquin, a Mason PhD in Public Health student

The average menstruator will use more than 11,000 tampons or sanitary pads in their lifetime. Vaginal and vulvar tissue that touch pads and tampons is highly permeable. Through this permeable tissue chemicals are absorbed without being metabolized, which makes endocrine-disrupting chemicals potentially dangerous when found in menstrual products. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals can interfere with human hormones and cause medical issues, including gynecological conditions such as endometriosis and uterine fibroids.

911�� researchers Joanna Marroquin, a PhD in Public Health student, and Anna Pollack, an associate professor in the College of Public Health, reviewed studies conducted since 2103 that measured chemicals in menstrual products and that measured human biomarkers of chemical exposure and determined that endocrine-disrupting chemicals were found in menstrual products including tampons, pads, and liners.

“Identifying chemicals in menstrual products that menstruators regularly use is important because exposure through these products can impact menstruators’ reproductive health,” said Marroquin, the paper’s first author.

Associate Professor Anna Pollack

The study found that menstrual products contain a variety of endocrine-disrupting chemicals including phthalates, volatile organic compounds, parabens, environmental phenols, fragrance chemicals, dioxins and dioxin-like compounds.

This issue is even more relevant thanks to the Robin Danielson Menstrual Product and Intimate Care Product Safety Act of 2023, which was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in October 2023. The Act would establish a program of research regarding the risks posed by the presence of dioxins, phthalates, pesticides, chemical fragrances, and other components in menstrual products and intimate care products.

This literature reviewed 15 papers published between 2013 and 2023 that tested menstrual products in the United States, Japan, and South Korea. The researchers note that there are few publications available that measure chemicals in menstrual products.

Additionally, though forever chemicals (PFAS) have been found in menstrual underwear, there is a lack of peer-reviewed research on menstrual underwear and other newly-popular-in-the-U.S. products such as menstrual cups and discs.

Chemicals in menstrual products: A systematic review was published in BJOG, an international journal of obstetrics and gynecology in September 2023. Additional authors include Marianthi-Anna Kiomourtzoglou from Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University and Alexandra Scranton from Women's Voices for the Earth.

The research was supported by Pollack's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences R01ES31079 award.

Topics

Women's Reproductive Health

Endocrine disrupting chemicals

Building support for endometriosis, the invisible condition that will affect 1 in 10 biological females

ckearney — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 15:06:18 +0000

Building support for endometriosis, the invisible condition that will affect 1 in 10 biological females ckearney Thu, 09/29/2022 - 11:06

In This Story

Jhumka Gupta, ScD

Anna Pollack, PhD, MPH

In 2014, Julia Mandeville was informed that she had stage 4 endometriosis. Just two years later, she co-founded the organization Barbados Association of Endometriosis and PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) to raise awareness, support, and research efforts toward the condition.

“When I started my PhD, I was determined to find out more about endometriosis and how it affects Black women.”

Originally from Barbados, Mandeville immigrated to the United States in 2019 and started as a doctoral student in public health at Mason in 2021.

Julia Mandeville. Photo provided

“I’ve been diagnosed with this condition, and I recognize that a lot of people around me don’t know about it,” said Mandeville. “It’s important to not only educate my friends and family, but the community at large. These conditions are chronic. There’s no cure, but what can help is having a supportive community around you.”

Endometriosis is an enigmatic condition, she explained, that is typically defined by the presence of “endometria-like” cells found outside the uterus. The disease usually emerges between ages 11 and 16.

“If we can educate persons in that age group regardless of gender, that would hopefully be able to flow through our community,” Mandeville said.

Mandeville conducted educational outreach in her Barbados community with BAEP. “Barbados is very small so it’s really easy to go around the community and to a majority of the secondary schools to educate people there,” she said.

But she still had to break through knowledge barriers. “It was originally thought to only affect ‘career women,’ non-Hispanic White women, and Asian women,” said Mandeville. “That created a lot of barriers for diagnosis and treatment. Now we know better.”

Although it was considered a gynecological disorder and, in some instances, does impact gynecological function, it can be found anywhere in the body.

“It doesn’t just affect cis-women, it can also affect trans men, and there are a few case studies where it’s been found in men who have undergone hormonal therapy and their cells have changed.”

The only way to diagnose endometriosis is through exploratory surgery; the cause of the condition is unknown. Mandeville is developing theories for the cause of the disease with Mason researchers Jhumka Gupta and Anna Pollack of the College of Health and Human Services.

Pollack is an environmental epidemiologist who looks at chemical exposures and sexual reproductive health outcomes associated with them.

Julia Mandeville (right) speaking with attendees at an event in collaboration with ENDO Black. Photo provided

“Working with Julia is delightful,” Pollack said. “She’s amazing at putting together a team that has complimentary expertise to address a specific topic or health-related issue that she wants to tackle,” said Pollack.

Pollack explained two studies Mandeville is leading. In one, they are collecting pilot data to learn whether survey participants would be willing to provide biospecimen to the researchers. Those would then be analyzed for chemical exposure. “This is formative research, which when done that next step will be to add that chemical component,” said Pollack.

Mandeville’s research on “social aspects such as race and stigma helped to bridge my and Dr. Pollack's research as well,” said Gupta.

Mandeville also collaborates with the executive director of ENDO Black, Lauren Kornegay. She connected with Kornegay, head of the Black-women-led organization that advocates for BIPOC individuals affected by endometriosis, via social media before she moved to the United States.

Mandeville said she wants to emphasize the importance of educating all communities on endometriosis.

Of Mandeville’s dedication, Pollack said, “This is something that I think as a future researcher is incredibly rare.”

Mandeville submitted an abstract of her research to the American Public Health Association (APHA), which was accepted and will be presented at the APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo in November.

“I think we’re going to be reading a lot more about Julia in the years to come,” said Gupta.

Topics

CPH Student Research

Food as medicine: Six insights from a 911���� nutrition expert

In This Story

Key Takeaways

Topics

Case study winners share how the competition prepares students for public health careers

Key Takeaways

In This Story

What did students gain from participating in the case competition?

Real-world intervention planning experience

Building skills and confidence

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Advice for students considering participating in a case competition

Topics

Public health doctoral candidate’s dissertation awarded in university-wide Three Minute Thesis competition

Topics

Is AI more helpful than humans in health care?

Topics

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals found in menstrual products including tampons, pads, and liners

In This Story

Topics

Building support for endometriosis, the invisible condition that will affect 1 in 10 biological females

In This Story

Topics

Food as medicine: Six insights from a 911�� nutrition expert