Jane Schmitz, PhD Student

Jane Schmitz entered the Human Nutrition program with an interest in the long-term impact of chronic undernutrition, and that focus has remained unabated in this, her fifth and final academic year towards her doctoral degree. Schmitz's thesis, "The Effects of Preschool Vitamin A Supplementation on Adolescent Hearing Loss," will focus on the lasting effects of childhood vitamin A supplementation and undernutrition on health and functional performance in young adulthood.

For her thesis, Schmitz joined the NNIPS Cohort Follow-Up (NCFU) study, which is a follow-up to the Nepal Nutrition Intervention Project Sarlahi-1 (NNIPS-1) trial. Begun in the late 1980s by Center for Human Nutrition faculty member Keith West, DrPH and colleagues, NNIPS-1 generated evidence on the role of vitamin A in reducing child mortality through the results of a supplementation trial in 30,000 pre-school aged Nepali children.

The follow-up study is the first time the researchers are attempting to return to the original population of Nepali children, now 15-22 years of age, for long-term follow-up. Schmitz's role is to lead a team to conduct ear exams, test how well the children hear, and test non-verbal cognition skills. Schmitz says, "There is no other research study like NNIPS in the world that presents the opportunity for this kind of follow-up. Our aim is to collect 4,500 hearing tests and ear exams, and currently we're two-thirds of the way through."

After returning from Nepal this summer, Schmitz will spend the next few months analyzing and summarizing the data for her dissertation. She plans to graduate in spring 2008. Schmitz says, "After graduation, I want to continue to apply my research skills and translate results from nutrition field research into policy and programs. Eventually, I want to get involved in advocacy work and lobby for increased attention to nutrition programs and the fight against global poverty."

The most exciting parts of Schmitz's academic career in the Human Nutrition track have been the acquisition of her research skills, the ability to implement those techniques in the field, and the opportunity to work alongside the faculty. "Obtaining a PhD is a long road, but my advisor, Keith West, maintains an enthusiasm for the research and a positive energy that is sustaining. It has been really valuable for me to learn from people who have had long careers in the field, such as Parul Christian, Joanne Katz, and Jim Tielsch," says Schmitz. She also appreciates her interaction with fellow doctoral students in the program: "Many of the students already have had impressive careers, and we often toss ideas around and have great discussions."
(June 2007)

Liwei Chen, PhD Student

To evaluate the causes behind the high obesity rates in our country, Liwei Chen, MS, MD, is focusing not what's on people's plates, but what's in their glasses. "My focus is how beverage consumption and regulation relates to obesity," says Chen. "I am looking at how the consumption of caloric beverages (soda, alcohol, coffee, and tea) affects changes in weight, how this consumption is spread amongst population groups, and how we can get people to reduce their consumption. The topic has real implications for public health interventions and policy."

Chen is analyzing longitudinal data on this topic that was collected from PREMIER, a multi-center trial about lifestyle modifications. The four centers involved in the weight loss maintenance trial are the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Duke University, Louisiana State University, and the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research. Chen is excited to be presenting her data at The Obesity Society's annual meeting in October.

Another area of interest to Chen is cancer and its association with diet and lifestyle. She has prepared a literature review and meta-analysis of the relationship between food, nutrition, and physical activity with lung cancer and nasopharyngeal cancer (the upper part of the throat behind the nose). Chen worked closely with Anthony Alberg, PHD, MPH, an associate professor with the Epidemiology Department, on the project, which was funded by the World Cancer Research Fund. She presented the data at the Experimental Biology 2007 conference, where she received a post-competition Coca-Cola Company Research Award for the Diet and Cancer Research Section.

Chen says she joined the Human Nutrition track because of its rigorous academics, the ability to do population and epidemiologic research, and the chance to work closely with Benjamin Caballero, MD, PhD, her program advisor and mentor for her obesity research. She plans to graduate in December 2007 and further pursue research in prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, particularly obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
(July 2007)

Jee Rah, PhD Student

Currently a fifth-year PhD student, Jee Rah has capitalized on the resources of the Human Nutrition program to come away with a unique international research experience in a developing country. Last September she returned to the states after spending 26 months in rural Bangladesh collecting data for her dissertation research. She investigated how pregnancy and lactation during adolescence affect linear and ponderal growth and body composition of adolescent mothers.

Rah says, "Although pregnancy during adolescence has been shown to increase the risk of adverse birth outcomes, the impact of pregnancy and lactation on the growth and nutritional status of adolescent mothers has not been adequately known. So we followed two groups of adolescent women in rural Bangladesh (primigravidae and never-pregnant adolescents) for a one-year period. We interviewed the adolescents about their dietary intake, physical activity, morbidity, and socioeconomic status and measured for anthropometry at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months."

The researchers found that pregnancy and lactation during adolescence ceased linear growth of young mothers, which may result in an overall decrement of 0.6-2.7 cm in adult height. They also found that pregnancy and lactation resulted in a weight loss and depletion of muscle and fat mass of the young mothers in rural Bangladesh, with the effects being more prominent among younger adolescents. The findings were presented at the Experimental Biology 2007 conference in Washington, D.C. Rah is writing a manuscript describing the methods and results of the study to submit to peer-reviewed scientific journals.
 
"Without the existing large community trials operated by Johns Hopkins in Bangladesh, my research experience would not have been possible," says Rah. "While living there for 26 months, I learned how to work with local field workers, conduct research in developing countries, and adapt to the culture. I am confident that this experience will be extremely helpful in my career. After graduation, I would like to work in nutrition program implementation and evaluation in developing countries."

Rah says the Human Nutrition program also offered her a great mentor and role model through her advisor, Parul Christian, DrPH: "Dr. Christian directed my interest to adolescent reproductive health and supported my research with invaluable comments and advice. Based on her dissertation research experience in rural Nepal, she gave me a great moral support throughout my stay in Bangladesh."
(June 2007)

From April 2004:
Xiaoping Weng’s research concentrates on the nutrition transition in China. Rapid socio-economic changes in China are contributing to dietary changes and alarming rates of obesity and related chronic diseases, especially among urban residents. Weng and several colleagues conducted a community-based cross-sectional survey with subjects randomly selected from urban, semi-urban and rural China to assess the impact of urbanization on the risk of chronic disease and examine the association of dietary patterns and lifestyle with obesity and obesity-related metabolic disorders. This study will help clarify how diet and lifestyle are implicated in the increase in obesity to develop effective preventive interventions.
Abstract title: Components of the metabolic syndrome among Chinese adults: a multivariate analysis
Authors: X. Weng, Y. Liu, J. Ma, W. Wang, G. Yang and B. Caballero
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sarah Cusick’s research focuses on severe anemia in young Pemban children (the island of Pemba is part of Zanzibar and lies a few degrees south of the equator and about 30 miles off the coast of mainland Tanzania in the Indian Ocean). Many factors contribute to severe anemia in this group, including nutritional deficiencies (iron, vitamin A), parasitic infections (malaria, helminths) and sickle cell disease. Each of these conditions can cause anemia via a separate physiological mechanism, and they may coexist in the same child. Cusick and collaborators attempted to clarify the predominant physiological mechanism causing severe anemia by applying a hematologial model that classified anemia into 3 types. They then explored the effects of vitamin A supplementation and antimalarial treatment on indicators of iron status, red blood cell formation, and inflammation during the three days following treatment. 
Abstract title: The pathophysiology of severe anemia in Zanzibari children: The effect of vitamin A and antimalarial treatment Authors: S. E. Cusick, J. E. Khatib, M. E. Ramsan, R. E. Black, S. E. Sazawal, J. E. Tielsch and R. E. Stoltzfus

© 2007, Johns Hopkins University. All Rights Reserved. web policies
615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, 410-955-5000