Lab Members
Kelly van Schaick, PhD
Dr. van Schaick is a postdoctoral fellow in pediatric psychology. Her funding is from a T32 training grant in Child Behavior and Nutrition. Dr. van Schaick moved to Cincinnati from Miami, Florida where she completed her clinical internship at the Mailman Center for Child Development. She obtained her doctoral degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA in the fall of 2003.
Dr. van Schaick began working on the Building Stronger Bones Project with Dr. Stark in November of 2003. As a post doctoral fellow, Dr. van Schaick is responsible for co-leading the parent groups, conducting follow-up visits, data analysis, interpretation, and manuscript preparation.
As a T32 fellow, Dr. van Schaick has the opportunity to work on a variety of nutrition related projects with different mentors. Her main area of interest is in obesity prevention and intervention. She is currently working with Dr. Scott Powers examining feeding behaviors in families of African American preschool children. Additionally, she works with Dr. Brian Saelens examining the development of visceral adiposity in school aged children.
Contact Kelly.VanSchaick@cchmc.org
Molly Hansen
Molly Hansen is the project coordinator in Dr. Lori Stark's lab. This lab is involved with grants to help children with Crohn's disease and Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis build stronger bones through dietary calcium intake. In the future, this lab may work to increase calcium consumption in children who have forearm fractures.
Molly oversees all of the studies to ensure that they are carried out smoothly and are well maintained. This includes, but is not limited to, running follow-up visits with study participants, overseeing scheduling and data management, ensuring recruitment and retention, and solving various problems that may arise.
Molly is relatively new to Cincinnati (moved here July of 2003), and is proud to have made it through her first real winter. After living in Houston where she worked with cancer patients at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Cincinnati was definitely a lot colder for her! She enjoys the work that she does and is working on a Master's in Public Health at Ohio State University. Go Buckeyes! Molly hopes to incorporate this degree with her career by doing research with chronically ill populations and by working in the area of prevention.
Contact Molly.Hansen@cchmc.org
Research Assistants
Dr. Stark's Research Assistants (RA's) for the Building Stronger Bones project are responsible for ensuring the day to day progress of the project. Some of their responsibilities include recruitment, scheduling visits, leading the children's intervention group, data collection, and subject retention.
Effective recruitment is crucial each time the lab begins a new group for the project. The ability of the RA's to connect with the families and clearly explain the purpose and benefits of the study helps to guarantee participation from dedicated families. Once families have been recruited for the study, the research assistants coordinate with the staff in the Clinical Research Center to schedule them for their visit.
During the intervention period of the project, RA's have the opportunity to lead the children's group. They teach the children to choose high calcium foods and how to make their bones strong. In the behavioral group, they use differential attention to try and modify the children's eating behavior.
RA's are also responsible for ensuring that all of the data is collected and thoroughly completed at each visit. They must log all incoming data into a tracking system, enter it accurately into SPSS, and keep the databases free of error.
In addition to managing data and participant scheduling, the research assistants must focus on the retention of participants which is vital to the study. One key aspect of retention is maintaining a good relationship with the parents and children. Birthday cards, thank-you letters, prizes, and a periodic newsletter full of games, calcium information, and updates on groups' progress, are all things that keep the families invested in the project.
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Ellen Dunlap graduated from Wake Forest University in May of 2003 with a B.A. in psychology. She is a second year Research Assistant with the Building Stronger Bones project. Ellen was glad to find a job in which she could use her skills and knowledge gained in her undergraduate studies. In this job, she enjoys the opportunity to interact with the families as well as exploring new ways to more efficiently organize the many aspects of the project. One of her favorite parts of the job is feeling as though their research is making a positive impact on the health of chronically ill children. In the future, Ellen may pursue a career in an area of psychology or public health. Contact Ellen via email at Ellen.Dunlap@cchmc.org |
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Naomi Kahn graduated from Indiana University in May of 2003 with a B.S. in Psychology. She is a second year research assistant with the Building Stronger Bones project. Naomi hoped to work in Dr. Stark's Behavioral Nutrition Research lab to gain some additional research experience before applying to graduate schools. Through this position she has developed the skills to do everything from building SPSS databases to running kids' groups to teach them about calcium. Naomi truly enjoys her involvement with the families and looks forward to seeing them for each of their follow-up visits. In the future, Naomi hopes to pursue a career in pediatric psychology. Contact Naomi via email at Naomi.Kahn@cchmc.org |
