Research Focus

I have dedicated my career to research, education, and program building to combat obesity. My work is at the intersection of public health and clinical medicine: it has impacted the problem of obesity through innovative treatment paradigms in community-based participatory research. I am also developing the use of mHealth tailored to the behavioral characteristics of the recipient as a tool to enhance obesity treatment. Lastly, I am co-PI of the Mason Cohort Study of entering college freshmen. I have authored more than 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, and I’m committed to mentoring the next generation of public health and clinical scholars.

Current Projects

■ The Mason Cohort Study: Health Starts Here is a multi-year study which is following hundreds and eventually thousands of entering freshmen at George Mason, a population that is representative of US young adults. We are seeking to understand the precursors and risk factors underlying health and behavior problems in this population, as well as to design and implement preventive health interventions based on knowledge we are gaining through the Mason cohort. The cohort will gather extensive survey, biomedical, and genetic data, and has been funded initially through the generosity of the IBI.

Select Publications

■ Cuellar, A. E. et al. (2021). Protocol for the Mason Health Starts Here prospective cohort study of young adult college students. BMC Public Health, 21(1).

■ Garcia-Alvarez, A. et al. (2020). A randomized, placebo- controlled crossover trial of a decaffeinated energy drink shows no significant acute effect on mental energy. Am. J. Clin. Nutr., 111(3), 719-727.

■ Bennett, W. L. et al. (2018). Methods for evaluating natural experiments in obesity: A systematic review. Ann. Intern. Med., 168(11), 791-800.

■ Chen, H. et al. (2016). Relationship between frequency of eating and cardiovascular disease mortality in U.S. adults: The NHANES III follow-up study. Ann. Epidemiol., 26(8), 527-533.