I spent two years as a volunteer and lived in the remote Far Western Undeveloped Region of Nepal where I taught math and science to Nepalese children. That experience turned me on to diversity issues, teaching, and nutrition. Restructuring of the auto companies caused massive layoffs and unemployment rates sky-rocketed in Flint and Saginaw. That experience increased my awareness of how living environments and changes in the socioeconomic status can influence growth, development and the overall health of an individual. My early experience in community nutrition provided me with a rich experience of working with people from diverse backgrounds.
Several books are available on the topic of community nutrition.
The time was right to return to school and after careful consideration I enrolled as a doctoral student in the Department of Anthropology at Indiana University . My dissertation research took me back to the Himalayan Mountains, my home away from home, where I conducted research with an ethnic group known as the Sherpas . I was curious if regional differences would also be seen for infant birthweights and to examine the influence of energy consumption and expenditure on birth outcome and that become the topic of my dissertation research. I conducted a prospective, longitudinal research project that examined the effects of two environmental stressors, nutrition and hypoxia, on pregnancy outcome. I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Sherpa women living in Kathmandu and the Khumbu region of Nepal.