Marcela Abrego, MPH

Marcela is a doctoral student in the Department of Nutritional Sciences. She earned her Master of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where her areas of interest were Nutrition and Health Quality. She has been an Intervention Specialist at UNC, a Research Assistant at the University of Virginia, and Research Data Analyst for an international fatty-acid-focused non-profit named GOED.

Marcela’s research interests are in Maternal, Infant, and Child Nutrition and Health, particularly regarding metabolic syndrome. Her career goal is to work in academia as a research investigator and educator and to contribute to health policy improvement for mothers and children.

Anahí Ramos-Gonzalez, MS

Anahi is from Mexico City and is in her second year as a doctoral student in the Department of Nutritional Sciences. She holds a Master of Science in Community Nutrition from the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico. Her research focuses on the first two years of life, exploring how caregiver-infant interactions influence eating behaviors, weight gain trajectories, and long-term health outcomes.

With a background in clinical and public health roles, she has supported vulnerable populations, particularly women and children. As a WIC Nutritionist, she provides nutritional counseling, breastfeeding support, and education experiences that shape her commitment to reducing health disparities.

Kayleen Whitley, MS, RD, LD

I am a first-year PhD student in the Widen Lab. I completed my undergraduate and master’s degrees, as well as a dietetic internship, at the University of Houston. I worked as a pediatric clinical dietitian for three years at top children’s hospitals, which solidified my drive to pursue a doctoral degree in nutrition with a focus on infant and early childhood nutrition. My specific interests in this area of nutrition are caregiver feeding types, caregiver-responsive feeding sensitivity, and hunger self-regulation in children.

Alia Callum

Alia is a first-year doctoral student in the Human Development and Family Science program at the University of Texas at Austin. Before beginning her doctoral studies, Alia earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Texas State University where she worked as a research assistant on studies examining children’s emotion recognition abilities and college students’ theories of intelligence and metacognition. 

Since beginning at UT, Alia’s research has focused on how family systems and parenting behaviors impact children’s social-emotional development, and how factors such as social support play a protective role for family units. Her career goal is to contribute promotive research on underrepresented populations to the field of family science.

Robert Marc Macasieb

Robert is a second-year doctoral student in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin. Originally from Hilo, Hawaii, he earned his bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Human Development & Family Studies from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. Prior to beginning his doctoral studies, Robert worked with nonprofit organizations in Hawaii, focusing on promoting early literacy among young children and fostering socio-emotional development in adolescents from low-income communities.

Robert’s research examines the contextual and individual factors influencing first-time parenthood, with a particular emphasis on how these factors shape parent-child interactions and subsequent socio-emotional development. He aims to advance his work through academia, intervention programs, and policy initiatives to support smoother transitions into parenthood during the critical early years of life.

Bea Maclaine

Bradley Maclaine is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. They previously received their Master of Science in Social Work, also from UT. They studied psychology at the University of Illinois and have previously worked in various nonprofits in the child welfare field in both Illinois and Texas. Their current research focuses on the intergenerational transmission of family relationships and the impact of alcohol use on parent-child relationships.