Valerie Duffy, PhD, RD

Professor & Director, Graduate Program in Allied Health Sciences

Biography

Dr. Valerie Duffy is a Professor and Director of the Graduate Program in the Department of Allied Health Sciences. She offers a wealth of experience in food, nutrition, health promotion, and public health nutrition. Her research program has two main areas fueled by extramural funding. First, her team aims to understand sensory nutrition or the influence of variation in chemosensory perception on food flavor, food preference, and consumption. Recently, her team has translated sensory nutrition into individualized dietary recommendations for children and adults through online survey and tailored nutrition messages. The ultimate goal is to leverage sensory nutrition to encourage consumption of healthy diets that are enjoyable for promotion of health and prevention of disease. Her second major area of research interest involves the formation of interdisciplinary teams to work with community agencies to promote health diets and weights of children and their families, particularly those of economic disadvantage. These efforts incorporate undergraduate and graduate student research and investigate the effectiveness of community-based interventions, mhealth, and social media to improve diet healthiness for obesity prevention. Dr. Duffy and her students have published numerous papers and have presented at national and international meetings. She has received several awards for excellence in teaching, research, and service. Students who have trained in her lab are advancing health promotion through research, practice, and leadership. She has served as major advisor to complete fifty-one Master’s students, four PhD students, and numerous undergraduates completing research experiences and honor thesis.

Dr. Duffy teaches at the undergraduate and graduate levels and currently mentors students at the undergraduate honors (including McNair Scholars), masters (Plan A and B), and doctoral levels. Since 2010, she has served as a mentor for and worked with 17 honors students, 36 masters students, and 3 doctoral students.

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