Oral

This session is named after Dr. Greg Alexander, an extraordinary maternal and child health researcher and a mentor for numerous students. Dr. Alexander died in 2007. In this session, students disseminate findings from their independent or collaborative research projects. Maternal characteristics and behaviors have potential impact on infant early feeding, birth weight, and childhood obesity. Maternal perceptions of food insecurity and employment instability will be described. Biological, psychosocial and environmental determinants for infant weight and nutrition in urban populations and populations from multi states will also be addressed by student researchers.

Session Objectives: Objective 1: understand physical and social determinants for infant nutrition Objective 2: analyze environmental factors contributing to infant weight issues Objective 3: compare and contrast nutrition-related maternal and child health issues in different aggregates