Department & Program:

• Human Nutritional Sciences, M.Sc.

Funding Sources:

• AllerGen
• National Training Program in Allergy and Asthma
• Manitoba Institute of Child Health

Research Focus:

I am currently working as part of the Study of Allergy, Genes and the Environment.  This multidisciplinary study is focused on the 1995 Manitoba Birth Cohort to investigate clinical, genetic, immunologic, endocrinologic and sociologic factors believed to be involved in the development of asthma and obesity in adolescent girls.

The objective of my study is to examine the effects of cultural and social environmental factors, and agents of socialization on behaviours associated with obesity in asthma.  Over the past 2 decades, both childhood obesity and diagnosis of asthma in children have increased.  My study will examine a possible relationship between the two.  Questionnaires designed to provide information on the interactive effects of several factors on health status, including social and environmental factors, which include gender, socio-economic status, parental education, and ethnicity, are being administered to participating children. As well, risk behaviours, such as eating, intensity of dieting efforts, and level of physical activity, will be considered. These findings will then be correlated with the children’s anthropometrical measurements and lung function tests. 

Most recently, I presented some of my findings at the American Thoracic Society’s International Conference in San Diego, and at AllerGen’s First Annual Trainee Symposium in Toronto.