Research Focus

Significant career experience as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist practitioner, combined with a research background in resistance exercise and musculoskeletal health, have informed my translational research interests. Specifically, I work in collaboration with clinicians and practitioners to address issues related to athlete health, nutrition, and performance. A second area of interest is the development of culturally-adapted interventions for pediatric obesity management in underserved populations.

Current Projects

■ Pediatric Obesity: Latino children have an almost three-fold higher risk of obesity compared to their white counterparts. They also have limited access to treatment programs. Together with colleagues from nutrition and psychology, we developed a culturally-adapted pediatric weight management program. We are testing the effectiveness of family-based, group treatment among low-income Latino children who are overweight (i.e. Vidas Activas y Familias Saludables (VALÉ)).

■ Athlete Health and Performance: Athletes are subjected to external and internal loads when training and competing, yet the relationship between the two has not been clearly defined. Wearable sensors enable the monitoring of internal and external loads and provide data from which to study the effects of such loads on health and performance.

Select Publications

■ Sekel, N. M. et al. (2020). The effects of cholecalciferol supplementation on vitamin D status among a diverse population of collegiate basketball athletes: A quasiexperimental trial. Nutrients, 12(2), 370.

■ Luk, H. et al. (2021). Effect of rest period configurations on systemic inflammatory response in resistance-trained women. Journal of Sports Sciences, 39(13), 1504-1511.

■ Oliver, J. M. et al. (2016). Serum neurofilament light in American football athletes over the course of a season. Journal of Neurotrauma, 33(19), 1784-1789.