Isabel Diana Fernandez, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D.

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Research: The epidemiology of growth and nutrition in children, particularly malnutrition and obesity in children and adolescents, assessment of nutritional status, and societal determinants of nutritional conditions. Dr. Fernandez is a nutritional epidemiologist interested in the two ends of the nutritional status continuum. She has examined the determinants of wasting and stunting in children in developing countries using data from the World Health Organization. Dr. Fernandez is currently focusing in weight gain prevention and obesity in the United States. In particular, Dr. Fernandez is interested in the synergism between individual nutrition and physical activity behaviors and the environment. She is currently conducting a group-randomized trial testing environmental interventions for worksite weight gain prevention and qualitative research on how the everyday life of low income families with school-age children influence the ability to make healthy nutrition and physical activity choices.

Current Appointments

• Associate Professor - Department of Community and Preventive Medicine (SMD)
• Associate Professor - Department of Pediatrics (SMD)

Education
PhD Epidemiology	University of Minnesota	1999
MPH Epidemiology	School of Public Health University of Minnesota	1994
Health Services Administration	Pan-American Health Organization	1990
MD Medicine	Buenos Aires National University	1981

Recent Journal Articles
Showing the 5 most recent journal articles. (12 available)
Dickerson T; Fernandez D; Topgyal, Samen A; Gelek, Nyima; Pelot G; Craig S; Dye T. "From Butter Tea to Pepsi®: A Rapid Appraisal of Food Preferences, Procurement Sources & Dietary Diversity in a Contemporary Tibetan Township". Ecology of Food and Nutrition 47 (2008): 229-53.
Fernandez ID; Olson CM; De Ver Dye T. "Discordance in the assessment of prepregnancy weight status of adolescents: a comparison between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sex- and age-specific body mass index classification and the Institute of Medicine-based classification used for maternal weight gain guidelines." Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 2008; 108(6):998-1002.
Lande MB; Pearson TA; Vermilion RP; Auinger P; Fernandez ID. "Elevated blood pressure, race/ethnicity, and C-reactive protein levels in children and adolescents." Pediatrics. 2008; 122(6):1252-7.
Pratt CA; Lemon SC; Fernandez ID; Goetzel R; Beresford SA; French SA; Stevens VJ; Vogt TM; Webber LS. "Design characteristics of worksite environmental interventions for obesity prevention." Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.). 2007; 15(9):2171-80.
Pratt CA; Fernandez ID; Stevens VJ. "Introduction and overview of worksite studies." Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.). 2007; 15 Suppl 1():1S-3S.