Jamie Dollahite

My expertise is in the area of nutrition education for limited-resource audiences that is designed to prevent obesity and chronic disease. I lead the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program for New York State and provide program leadership in collaboration with the NYS Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program–Education.  I have been active in national leadership for both programs. My research is closely integrated with the outreach provided by these programs.  I direct the Northeast Regional Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Center of Excellence, funded by USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture and the Food and Nutrition Servies. The signature research program for this center is to investigate the additive effect of skill-based nutrition education in combination with changes in policy, systems, and environmental changes, designed to make healthy choices easier, on nutrition and physical activity behaviors in low-income populations.

In addition, we have developed an innovative staff training model and I have conducted research regarding program management that supports staff  effectiveness.  Several projects have been guided by the socio-ecological model in bringing about changes at various levels of the environment that are conducive to healthy food and activity choices.  We developed and tested a curriculum that targets low-income parents of 3-11 year olds, integrating parenting practices with skills to promote healthy food choice and active play both at home and where children live, learn and play. We currently have a randomized control trial of this program underway.  A  second, related project aimed to build the capacity of local Cooperative Extension staff to collaborate with agency partners to make community-level environmental changes.