Her nutritional anthropology research explores the connections between social activities, nutritional intakes, and mother and child health outcomes in pregnant teens. As a medical anthropologist she explores alcohol use in college students, and is particularly interested in how alcohol intake informs self–identity in college age women. And as an advocate of public anthropology she has directed the development and implementation of a number of food education programs designed to encourage intake of vegetables and fruits in children and adults. She received her Ph.D. in Physical/Nutritional Anthropology from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania and is the author of Alcohol: Social Drinking in Cultural Context (Routledge).