The Racial Equity and Child Health (REACH) Lab, located in the Department of Nutrition and Public Health at Merrimack College, examines parent and community influences on child well-being, particularly for under-resourced populations facing food insecurity.
In the U.S., the obesogenic food environment disproportionately affects those most vulnerable to health disparities, such as ethnic minorities or low income residents, and it increases risk for subsequent chronic disease. Obesity affects 21% of U.S. children, and rates of both obesity and food insecurity are higher for Hispanic and non-Hispanic black youth.
At the REACH Lab, we aim to identify steps parents can take to protect against the impact of food insecurity and an obesogenic environment (e.g., mitigate parent stress and the impact on weight-related parenting practices) by working with communities to co-develop innovative solutions (e.g., the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health project with the City of Lawrence).
The REACH Lab has funding from a Centers for Disease Control cooperative agreement with the City of Lawrence to pursue the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) project, implementing evidence-based strategies to support food service and nutrition guidelines in the charitable food sector, food assistance programs (e..g, Health Incentives Program for access to fresh produce), community design for physical activity and continuity of care for breastfeeding families.
The REACH research team also collaborates on a National Institutes of Health R21 grant to develop and refine an Artificial Intelligence-based method to determine calories consumed based on digital images of leftover food.
Past research by Dr. Shonkoff has identified links between maternal stress, weight-related parenting behavior, child diet, child physical activity, and child obesity risk. Current projects include development of a free community program to co-address health impacts of child obesity and food insecurity. Additional research investigates the expansion of Artificial Intelligence methods, such as improving tools for dietary assessment and creating location-based virtual reality tools to improve coping with food insecurity.
Dr. Shonkoff also co-founded the Food Justice Research & Action Cluster, funded by the Academic Innovation Provost’s award.
Research within the Reach Lab helps identify steps parents can take to protect against the impact of food insecurity and an obesogenic environment by working with communities to co-develop innovative solutions.
“The R15 grant is very special because it is specifically for training undergraduate students. The overarching goal of the grant is to encourage smaller colleges like ours to get access to more NIH funding and have greater opportunities to train students at the undergraduate level.”
- Leena Bharath, Principal Investigator, MitoCure Lab
Reach Lab
Merrimack College
O’Reilly Hall 419,
315 Turnpike St.
North Andover, MA 01845
Phone: 978-837-5161
Email
MitoCure Lab
Merrimack College
Dept. of Nutrition & Public Health
O’Reilly Hall 406
315 Turnpike St.
North Andover, MA 01845
Phone: 978-837-3526
Email
The former captain for the New England Patriots and three-time Super Bowl champion was the keynote speaker for the College’s Unity in Diversity Days.
