Paola Arevalo Rodriguez, MS

Doctoral Research Fellow

I'm from Guatemala, where I did my bachelor's degree in Nutrition. I started working as a clinical nutritionist and then as a research assistant in the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP). Both experiences led me to the desire of expanding my knowledge in public health, so I then studied a master's degree in Nutrition and Foods with focus in Health Promotion and Prevention of Chronic Diseases at the University of Chile. I did my dissertation project in the assessment of non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) in toddlers, which is in process of being published. This experience led me to work as a research assistant with a team of experts in Chile to create a guide of recommendations on NNS intake on children oriented to policy makers. In my return to Guatemala, I re-joined INCAP as a research assistant, leading the data analysis in projects related with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Health Organization (WHO) and Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO). I also worked as Junior investigator in the project “Monitoring of sodium and trans fats in packaged products of Panama”. I'm now joining Drexel as a PhD student in Epidemiology, with Dr. Amy Auchincloss as my advisor; and part-time as a Graduate Research Fellow in the Urban Health Collaborative (UHC). My research interests focus on health determinants and inequities, chronic diseases prevention, food environments and policies, urban health, health promotion and data analysis methods.