Deborah Tate, phd

Deborah Tate is a professor in the Departments of Health Behavior and Nutrition as well as the director of CHAI Core. She has 20 years of research in behavioral weight management, particularly delivered through web and mobile platforms. Dr. Tate conducted several of the first randomized trials using the Internet and new technologies to deliver behavioral treatments for obesity and has continued to conduct a programmatic series of studies to determine which features of digital weight control programs contribute to efficacy.

Carmina Valle, phd, MPH

Carmina Valle, PhD, MPH is an associate professor in the Department of Nutrition with more than 15 years of experience in the field of cancer prevention and control. She is a behavioral scientist with training in nutrition, health communication, and cancer health disparities and a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and the UNC Weight Research Program. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on developing and evaluating digital behavior change interventions to eliminate disparities in cancer. Dr. Valle’s research addresses: (1) novel strategies to improve nutrition, physical activity, and weight management in cancer survivors, with a particular emphasis on young adults; (2) implementing behavioral interventions related to cancer prevention and control with potential for scalability and dissemination through the use of technology; and (3) optimizing tailored health communications and innovative interventions to improve cancer prevention behaviors.

Heather Wasser, PhD, MPH, RD, IBCLC

Heather Wasser is an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition, a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She has more than 15 years of professional and research experience aimed at improving the health and wellness of families with young children. Dr. Wasser's research focuses on the design of behavioral interventions at the intersection of nutrition and child development. Her research interests include using new technologies to improve maternal and infant diet, interventions promoting social support for pregnant women and mothers during the first 1,000 days, and the use of emerging intervention frameworks, particularly the multiphase optimization strategy (MOST).

BROOKE NEZAMI, PHD, MA

Brooke Nezami is an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition with expertise in mobile-delivered behavioral weight control interventions. Her research focuses on using technology to increase adherence and improve dietary behaviors in young adults and families with young children. Dr. Nezami’s research interests include smartphone-based interventions for nutrition and weight control, just-in-time adaptive interventions (JITAIs), and using both reinforcement learning and artificial intelligence to improve message personalization and program adherence.

Karen hatley, mph

Karen received her BSPH and MPH in Nutrition at UNC Chapel Hill.  After working as a Nutrition Consultant for the NC Department of Health and Human Services, she went on to serve as the Managing Director of the UNC Clinical Nutrition Research Center (now the Nutrition Obesity Research Center). In 2006, she joined Dr. Tate’s research group as her Project Manager and is involved in all aspects of the research group including grant submissions; intervention design, development and implementation; manuscripts and overall management of the lab and numerous research studies being conducted by Dr. Tate.

MOLLY DIAMOND, MPH

Molly received her MPH at UNC Chapel Hill in Health Behavior. She joined Dr. Tate’s research group in 2005 and now assists with all aspects of research including intervention delivery, material development, and writing. She is interested in promoting healthy lifestyles and finding strategies to make healthy changes sustainable for different types of people.

KRISTEN POLZIEN, PHD

Kristen received her PhD in Exercise Physiology from the University of Pittsburgh in 2005, and has been a member of Dr. Tate’s research group since 2008. She serves to develop and deliver behavioral interventions. Her interests include enhancing participant engagement and retention, as well as understanding effective techniques that support long-term health behavior change.

Doctoral Students

Graduate Students

Undergraduate Students

Lex Hurley, MPH

Lex is a doctoral student in the Department of Health Behavior. He completed his BS in Human Biology at the University of Texas at Austin and his MPH at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at Abilene. His research interests mHealth methods and technology-based health promotion, rural populations, military populations, community-based participatory research, and nutrition and physical activity interventions for weight loss and chronic disease prevention.

CAITLIN MARTINEZ, MS, RDN

Caitlin is a doctoral student in the Department of Nutrition. She completed her BS in Dietetics at the University of Delaware, her Dietetic Internship at Simmons University, and her MS in Nutrition Science at CSU Long Beach. Her research interests include lifestyle interventions for chronic disease management, intervention optimization, variability in response to weight management programs, and the roles of novel technologies and human counseling in weight loss programs.

Susanna Choi, MPH, RDN

Susanna is a doctoral student in the Department of Nutrition. She received a BS in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and her MPH in Nutrition/Dietetics from UNC Chapel Hill. Susanna's dissertation work explores the potential for digital health interventions to improve mental health and nutrition outcomes in adolescent and young adult cancer survivors (AYAs).

SERENA SEVIGNY

Serena is a MPH in the Nutrition concentration. She received her BS in Nutrition and Communications at the University of Rhode Island, as well as completing the Didactic Program in Dietetics. Her research interests include the influences the gut microbiome has on mental health, food and drug interactions, nutrigenetics, and the nutrition of adolescent and young adult cancer survivors.

NATHAN ADAMS

Nathan is an undergraduate senior from Davidson NC studying Nutrition Science and Research in the Gillings School of Global Public Health. His research interests center around behavioral interventions and relationships within the diet and obesity and separately, nutritional effects on transmittable diseases. Within the lab, he assists on AYA Connect while pursuing behavioral analyses of the Nudge program.

Zuhaa Asrar

Zuhaa is an undergraduate senior from Cary, NC studying Nutrition Health and Society with a minor in Spanish from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Her research interests focus on improving health outcomes for Latinx patients and young adult cancer survivors, with an emphasis on enhancing health communications to better support these groups. Within the lab, she assists with the AYA Connect and CHART (Carolina Health Assessment Resource Tool) studies.

THIERRY CHARLES

Thierry is a third-year undergraduate student studying Nutrition, on the science and research track. He is also double minoring in Chemistry and African Studies. His research interests include improving nutritional management and outcomes for communities with diverse food culture backgrounds. Within the lab, he assists with messaging and communications for the AYA Connect study.

HANNA SALUS

Hanna is an undergraduate senior from Hershey, PA studying Nutrition Science & Research in the Gillings School of Global Public Health. She currently works as a research assistant with a Duke University Bass Connections team on gender equity in STEM. Within the lab, she assists with the AYA Connect study to help adolescent and young adult cancer survivors (AYAs) achieve healthy states after cancer.