Ana Cristina Lindsay

Dr. Lindsay’s research and scholarship focus is on understanding family- and community-level influences on children’s health and nutrition, with a special focus on social and cultural determinants of lifestyle behaviors in early childhood (diet, physical activity, etc.) and risk of obesity among low-income, Latino immigrant families and children in the U.S. and Latin America. Much of her research has focused on family-based prevention and health promotion research and interventions to improve dietary behaviors, increase physical activity, and prevent obesity among Latinos conducted in partnership with state- and federal-level programs serving low-income families in the U.S. (e.g., WIC program) and Latin America (e.g., Saude da Familia and BolsaFamilia programs in Brazil). Prior to joining the EHS Department as Associate Professor, Dr. Lindsay helped create and co-directed the doctoral program in public health nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health’s Department of Nutrition.

• Child health with a special focus on early childhood nutrition and physical activity including research addressing eating and physical activity behaviors and caregivers practices that place low-income, multi-ethnic children at risk of overweight, obesity and associate chronic diseases
• Determinants of trends in overweight and obesity among low-income, minority children in the U.S. and Latin America, with emphasis on socio-cultural, behavioral and environment influences on the development of overweight/obesity and related chronic diseases
• Development and evaluation of programs, policies, and communication strategies to prevent and control overweight/obesity and related chronic diseases with special focus on early childhood
• Role of parents and families in preventing childhood obesity, with a special focus on understanding development of parenting skills and practices that may be protective for children’s healthy development and risk factors for maladjustment
• Design and evaluation of maternal and child health and nutrition programs in international settings (e.g., Brazil, El Salvador, Argentina, Bangladesh)
• Translational research including development of applied research methodology (e.g. integrated quantitative and qualitative methods, case studies, rapid assessment procedures) to understand factors that hinder and/or facilitate the translation and utilization of research results into practice (e.g. design of new program/services, design of policies)