Wegmans School of Health and Nutrition

RIT’s Wegmans School of Health and Nutrition is one of five national sites conducting a randomized clinical trial to evaluate the Enhanced Lifestyles for Metabolic Syndrome (ELM) program.  ELM provides tools, methods and support for healthier eating, increased physical activity and stress management and the ELM trial is studying how to best provide this information to persons diagnosed with Metabolic Syndrome. This is important because Metabolic Syndrome quintuples the risk of diabetes, doubles the risk of cardiovascular disease, and is considered a state of prediabetes and Stage A of heart failure. Metabolic Syndrome has increased in prevalence from one-quarter to one-third of Americans over the past 20 years.

The William G. McGowan Charitable Foundation awarded Chicago-based Rush University $9 million to support the national study. Partner sites with RIT are located in Kansas City Missouri, Denver Colorado, Danville Pennsylvania.

To learn more about ELM go to the ELM trial website.

This study utilizes principles of dissemination science to make the About Eating online program available statewide especially to persons with constrained resources or  health issues.  A dissemination inventory developed for each of the 10 fiscal regions of New York state includes more than 10,000 contacts and is being made available for use by other organizations.  A second component of the project is translating the website into Spanish with the assistance of a native Spanish speaker research assistant and Ibero-American Action League of Rochester.

Read about our collaboration with Long Island Cares, one of many organizations across New York State helping to disseminate About Eating.

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among U.S. women and the second leading cause of cancer death in women. Disease management and secondary prevention strategies, such as lifestyle changes, screening, and medication adherence have led to increased survival rates for breast and other cancers, but further reduction in breast cancer incidence and mortality requires enhanced professional education on cancer risk management and strategies to enhance provider-patient communication to motivate cancer survivors to be full participants in breast health care. The goals of this project are to develop, pilot, evaluate and refine PAMI: Physician Assistant Motivational Interviewing + Health Literacy to Enhance Health in Breast Cancer Survivors, a breast cancer education program grounded in theory for Physician Assistant students to refine breast cancer survivorship knowledge, develop competency in Motivational Interviewing (MI), and enhance patient health literacy. The PAMI curriculum will be developed by a team of subject matter experts and vetted by a diverse group of survivor advocates served by the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester (BCCR). Two groups of ~20 fourth and fifth-year Physician Assistant student-participants will engage in comprehensive, online training (lecture, survivor-advocate panel, guided discussion, role-play, reflective journals) including participation in Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester (BCCR) survivor support groups to better understand the concerns of breast cancer survivors. Student-participants will be evaluated by validated survey instruments (ie. Cancer Attitude Questionnaire, Multicultural Sensitivity Scale), knowledge tests, and pre-post video-recorded student-led counseling sessions with breast cancer survivor standardized patient scenarios with 1:1 coaching for improvement. In addition, student-participants provide video-recorded 1:1 motivational interviewing sessions to the breast survivor community. Survivor-participants will evaluate the students' effectiveness using open-ended questions and validated measures (ie., Care Satisfaction Questionnaire), and a sub-group of survivor-participants will engage in a focus group to assess their experience. This project has the potential to re-conceptualize Physician Assistant communication training and equips graduates to fully partner with breast cancer survivors to enhance care, health, and quality of life.

Premature cessation of screen usage is a common behavior post-concussion, given the taxing nature of a screen-time task. In the academic setting, screen-time is a near unavoidable component. However, complete avoidance of class and screen use may in fact provoke psychological symptoms of anxiety and depression in students, for fear of falling behind in their studies. This study aims to investigate compensatory measures to assist students as they attempt to maintain academic involvement throughout their concussion recovery. Blue light blocking glasses have been shown to significantly increase screen-time usage in individuals with post-concussion syndrome, yet these results are only representative of a small portion of the concussion population. Thus, further investigation whether blue light blocking glasses can prolong screen usage prior to symptom exacerbation, specifically in concussed students that are still within the normal recovery timeframe.​

Curriculum designed to educate children, parents, and preschool providers on the principles of the Division of Responsibility in Feeding and USDA Core Nutrition Messages. Collaborators includes Volunteers for America and YMCA of Greater Rochester.

Visit website: NEEDs for Tots

Research and outreach efforts that focus on developing, implementing, and evaluating school- and family-based interventions to effectively address childhood obesity and promote healthy habit development. 

View Fuel for Fun video

Cleaned.Cut.SNAP is a pilot project that evaluates point-of-sale financial incentives for SNAP participants to encourage the purchase of fresh vegetables, including "Cleaned and Cut" vegetables at select Foodlink Curbside Market mobile farmer’s market locations and select Wegmans Food Markets in Rochester, NY.

View PDF: Cleaned.Cut.SNAP

Anemia is a persistent micronutrient deficiency affecting women and children across the African continent. This research project provides educational opportunities for students to learn about nutrition-related childhood anemia issues of developing countries and the programs and interventions being implemented to address the problem. Collaborators include PointHope International and University of Cape Coast.

RIT News Story: Students study anemia in Ghana