INVESTIGATING CHILD FEEDING IN A VIRTUAL REALITY BUFFET

Abstract

In partial fulfillment of the Masters of Public Health (MPH) degree, I completed my field experience in the Social and Behavioral Research Branch (SBRB) at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland from June 5th 2017 through August 11th 2017. The NIH is a federal government agency which serves as the nation’s primary resource for biomedical and public health research that improves health and save lives. NHGRI is one of twenty-seven institutes at the NIH. NHGRI’s mission is to encompass a broad range of studies aimed at understanding the structure and function of the human genome and its role in health and disease. The branch I specifically worked in was SBRB, which conducts a broad array of research in applying new genomic discovery to improve health and clinical care. During my time at NHGRI, I was able to use my skills attained from the Masters of Public Health program at Kansas State University to advance the progress of ongoing projects as well as increase my knowledge and skills in areas outside of obesity research, such as diabetes related-stigma and virtual reality child feeding measures. For my experience, I worked with Dr. Susan J. Persky; a senior investigator in SBRB. Throughout my time at SBRB, I was tasked to work on a variety of ongoing projects which will assist with future research. Tasks included implementing coding systems to transform observed dietary behavior into quantitative variables, data coding, creating future study materials and presenting research findings at NIH poster day.