Naa Oyo Kwate, Ph.D.
Columbia University
Junior Investigator, Healthy Eating Research (Obesity Team)
Project Title: Studying Spatial Associations Between the Density of Schools and the Density of Fast Food Outlets
"Because I applied through the special solicitation, I am fortunate to be part of both the Healthy Eating Research and New Connections networks. The New Connections award has already had a powerful impact on my professional development. I attended a special mentoring workshop at the Healthy Eating Research meeting. I was able to meet the other Healthy Eating Research-New Connections scholars, their mentors, and Healthy Eating Research program staff. We completed a number of activities centering on our professional vision and the means by which we could enact our plans.
Project Description
Obesity in the United States has increased exponentially over the past few years. Although prevalence has risen steadily across demographic groups, the highest rates occur among the most disadvantaged, particularly low-income African American and Latino children. In New York City, 31% of Latino and 23% of African American elementary school children are obese, putting them at risk for poor health during childhood, and obesity and chronic illnesses as adults.
Fast food has garnered increasing attention as a risk factor for obesity, given its extremely high-energy density and poor nutritional profile. Researchers have found that fast food restaurants are more prevalent in low-income and predominantly African American neighborhoods, and have also documented close spatial proximity to schools.
Kwate's study seeks to expand on this literature by investigating three key areas: the role of school and neighborhood segregation in shaping children's food environments; determinants of fast food density; and the processes underlying fast food owners' site selection and store operation.
To address these aims, Kwate will use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Phase I to quantify, map and analyze spatial data on fast food locations in New York City. In Phase II, she will conduct semi-structured interviews with selected owners of fast food businesses to ascertain the owners' views on the benefits of operating at particular locations.
Biography
Naa Oyo A. Kwate, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. Kwate's research centers on determinants of African American health, with particular attention to individual level experiences of identity and inequality, and the intersection of these variables with more distal structural factors. She is particularly interested in determinants of dietary behavior and food environments.
Kwate trained as a clinical psychologist, specializing in the treatment of children and adolescents, and during graduate school, she studied the cultural construction of psychiatric disease classification, the cultural context of clinical practice, and the impact of racial/cultural identity on mental health. Her work in the psychiatry departments of large New York City hospitals brought home the extent to which low-income African American and Latino families were burdened with chronic illness, including being overweight and obese, and this led to a postdoctoral fellowship in cancer prevention and control. Kwate has published papers on culture and mental health practice, African American racial/cultural identity, the role of perceived racism in negative health outcomes and African American neighborhoods.
