Postdoctoral Research Fellow
University of Massachusetts, Lowell
My research examines how dietary patterns, dietary inflammation, and specific dietary exposures relate to chronic disease risk, with a focus on Puerto Rican adults, a population with high rates of cardiometabolic disease and poor bone health. Using data from the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study (BPRHS) and the PROSPECT cohort, I developed and validated culturally adapted dietary and lifestyle inflammation scores, examined associations of dairy intake and dietary fatty acids with bone health, and currently coordinate a collaborative study on beef intake and its relation to nutrient status and cardiometabolic biomarkers. To better understand underlying biological mechanisms, I have also investigated associations between diet, the gut microbiome, and bone health in this population, and authored a review highlighting the lack of racial and ethnic diversity in microbiome-osteoporosis research. Recently, I have extended this work into mechanistic nutrition science by studying how food-grade titanium dioxide, a common food additive, affects gut dysbiosis, intestinal permeability, and inflammation in healthy young adults. Together, this body of work reflects expertise in culturally-informed dietary assessment, multidisciplinary collaboration, and the integration of dietary, microbiome, and biomarker data to understand chronic disease and health disparities.