Category: Press

Dr. Widen’s research findings were recently highlighted in an article in The Texas Scientist. Specifically, her work with her colleagues at Columbia University investigating the impacts of mothers’ body weight and the home environment on the development and outcomes of their babies. This research suggests that boys appear to be more vulnerable in utero than…

Our paper on HIV and body composition changes during lactation was published online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In our cohort of HIV+ and HIV- women from Gulu area in Northern Uganda, we observed minimal changes in body fat and lean mass from 1 week to 12 months postpartum. Strikingly, we found that HIV was not associated…

 Our K99/R00 award “Pregnancy weight trajectories and offspring adiposity” (K99HD086304) was awarded. This award will provide $1,005,402 for Dr. Widen’s training and research for the next five years! This Pathway to Independence Award will allow Dr. Widen to gain additional training in advanced trajectory modeling and human phenotyping. The research component of this project applies innovative trajectory…

We are thrilled to announce that our paper in “Excessive gestational weight gain is associated with long-term body fat and weight retention at 7 y postpartum in African American and Dominican mothers with underweight, normal, and overweight prepregnancy BMI” in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition was awarded 2015 Best Paper on obesity-related research by an investigator affiliated…

Our paper led by Dr. Lori Hoepner on BPA exposure and childhood body fat was published in Environmental Health Perspectives in May 2016. The paper was featured in several news outlets, including Mother Jones, the New York Post, and was featured by the CUMC Mailman School of Public Health. Briefly, we found maternal BPA measured in the third trimester was associated with…

Our proposal “Pathways between maternal nutrition, toxicant exposure, home environment and child neurodevelopment” was awarded a Thrasher Research Fund Early Career Award by the Thrasher Research Fund. This will be the first study to evaluate the pathways between maternal nutrition, environmental toxicants and child neurodevelopment.  We will examine these pathways with in our prospective birth cohort (n=727)…

Our paper in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that high pregnancy weight gain had long term effects on maternal body size and fatness at 7 years postpartum. This is the first study of showing these effects in a low-income, urban and minority population. This research was featured on YahooNews, MedicalResearch.com and other parenting websites!