PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Food insecurity is a significant public health concern and is defined as limited or uncertain access to enough
food for an active and healthy lifestyle. Food insecurity impacts 15.7% of households with children in the U.S.,
but its effects on child growth and developmental trajectories are not well documented. In this K99/R00 Pathway
to Independence Award project, I propose research aims to better understand the impact of early life food
insecurity on child growth and development. I will utilize data from two ongoing birth cohort studies at the
Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) to assess the effects of food insecurity during
pregnancy and intermittent and persistent food insecurity during early childhood on 1) maternal obesity and
cognitive function, and 2) childhood growth and cognitive development trajectories from early childhood to age
18. This will be the first study to simultaneously examine the role of food insecurity trajectories in child and
adolescent cognitive development and obesity. This research will combine cutting edge body composition
measurement, cognitive assessment and epidemiologic methods and will contribute important substantive
knowledge on the food insecurity-obesity and the food insecurity-cognitive function associations within children
and adolescents. This work will also provide novel insight to inform evidence-based recommendations and
interventions around child and adolescent obesity. During the K99 phase, my work will be situated within the top-
tier research environments of Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, the CCCEH and the NY Obesity
Research Center, all of which have a strong focus on policy translation and community partnerships. Situating
my K99/R00 work in a research environment focused on policy translation and analysis will provide me with
experience and training in how research findings and data can contribute to policy debates and to the generation
of new data driven policies. The training goals of this K99/R00 are to become skilled in complex longitudinal data
analyses, body composition assessment in children and adolescents using bio-impedance and magnetic
resonance imaging, child cognitive development assessment using diagnostic tests, and collection and analysis
of quantitative data within a birth cohort. As part of the R00 phase, I will gain field experience in collecting
anthropometric and cognitive data from children. This work is a logical extension of my prior and ongoing
research in obesity, nutrition and food insecurity, and will fill gaps in training that I need to launch my career as
an independent scientist working at the intersection of epidemiology, urban health and social policy.