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

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.