Vernarelli, Jacqueline - Fairfield University

个人简介

Dr. Jacqueline Vernarelli is a nutritional scientist who studies how diet and lifestyle behaviors influence health status in adults and children. She recieved a B.A. in Chemistry from Skidmore College, then went on to earn a M.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Georgetown University while examining the influence of dietary phytochemical exposure on oncogene expression. She completed her Ph.D. in Medical Nutrition Science at Boston University School of Medicine; her dissertation explored the influence of genetic risk assessment on lifestyle behaviors, specifically examining changes made to diet, exercise habits and use of dietary supplements following genotype disclosure. Dr. Vernarelli completed postdoctoral training in nutritional epidemiology and ingestive behavior in the Departments of Food Science and Nutritional Science at Penn State, and subsequently joined the Penn State Population Research Institute. Following her postdoctoral training, she spent two years on the faculty at Penn State teaching in the Nutrition Department and mentoring graduate and undergraduate students in a variety of research projects relating to nutritional epidemiology, public health and biobehavioral health. Dr. Vernarelli joined the Biology Department at Fairfield University in the fall of 2014 as an Assistant Professor, and began a joint appointment in the School of Nursing and Health Studies in January 2015. Her current research focuses on understanding how dietary intake influences risk for chronic disease in children and adults, and how various environmental factors influence food choice. The majority of her research is epidemiological in nature, involving the use of NHANES or other population datasets.

研究领域

Currently the majority of my projects focus on nutritional epidemiology – that is, the study of nutrition (including food choice, eating behaviors and nutritional status) in large groups of people. I have extensive experience in survey methodology, and have taught courses and co-authored a book chapter on survey research methods, specifically focused on survey design for nutrition research. For the past four years, I have been conducting analyses using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to investigate the relationship between dietary patterns and the association with various public health priority outcomes, such as obesity and cancer. Two projects that I am currently working on are: evaluating the economics of food choice, and investigating the role that dietary energy density plays in chronic disease risk. My experience in epidemiology has allowed for opportunities to collaborate with researchers from various disciplines, including: Nursing, Food Science, Kinesiology, Biobehavioral Health and Public Health, and to mentor students on a variety of research projects. Beyond my epidemiological research, I have had previous experience in clinical trials and experimental feeding studies, and am particularly interested in extending my current research program to investigate the influence of the food environment on food choice and dietary patterns in a community-based setting.

近期论文

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Vernarelli JA, Mitchell DC, Rolls BJ, Hartman, TJ. A higher proportion of low-energy dense foods in the diet is associated with lower body weight among US adults. European Journal of Nutrition, 2016 in press. Jones, JL*, Hartman TJ, Klifa CS, Coffman DL, Mitchell DC, Vernarelli JA, Snetselaar LG, Van Horn L, Stevens VJ, Robson AM, Himes JH, Shepherd JA, Dorgan JF. Dietary Energy Density is Positively Associated with Breast Density among Young Women. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2015;115(3):353-9 Christensen KD, Roberts JS, Whitehouse PJ, Royal CDM, Obisesan TO, Cupples LA, Vernarelli JA, Bhatt DL, Linnenbringer EP, Butson MB, Fasaye G, Uhlmann WR, Hiraki S, Cook-Deegan R, Green RC for the REVEAL Study Group. Disclosing Pleiotropic Effects during Genetic Risk Assessment for Alzheimer’s Disease: A Randomized, Controlled Trial. Annals of Internal Medicine, 2016;164(3):155-63. Vernarelli JA, Mitchell DC, Rolls BJ, Hartman TJ. Dietary energy density is associated with obesity and other biomarkers of chronic disease in US adults. Eur J Nutr, 2015. 54(1):59-65. McCrea CM*, Vernarelli JA, Kris-Etherton PM, West SG. A novel antioxidant score for predicting CVD mortality in aging adults from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1988-1994). Circulation, 2014; 129: Supp. 1, AP348. Vernarelli JA, Mitchell DC, Rolls BJ, Hartman TJ. Methods for calculating dietary energy density in a nationally representative sample. Procedia Food Science, 2;68-74. 2013. PMID: 24432201 Vernarelli, JA. Impact of genetic risk assessment on nutrition-related lifestyle behaviours, Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 2012. 72(1); 153-159, 2013. PMID: 23095764. Lindgren JA*, Vernarelli JA, Savage-Williams J, Hartman TJ. Is Usual Dietary Pattern Related to the Risk of Developing Breast Cancer? Current Nutrition Reports. 2(2); 90-96, 2013. Vernarelli JA and Lambert JD. Tea consumption is inversely associated with body weight and markers for Metabolic syndrome in U.S. adults, Eur J Nutr. 52(3):1039-48, 2013 [epub ahead of print. 2012 Jul 10]. PMID: 22777108 Vernarelli JA, Mitchell DC, Hartman TJ, Rolls BJ. Dietary energy density is associated with body weight status and diet quality in U.S. children, J. Nutr 141(12), 2011. PMID: 22049295 Vernarelli JA, Roberts JS, Hiraki S, Chen CA, Cupples LA, Green RC: Impact of Genetic Risk Assessment for Alzheimer’s Disease on Dietary Supplement Use. Am J Clin Nut 91(5):1402-7, 2010. PMID: 20219963