UNH Today

Nutrition researcher Maria Carlota Dao, an assistant professor at the UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture and a New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station (NHAES) researcher, was recently selected as a faculty fellow with the Obesity Health Disparities Programs to Increase Diversity Among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research (OHD PRIDE) program at the University of Houston. Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), OHD PRIDE is a two-year training and mentoring program offered to researchers engaged in community-based investigations that address obesity disparities.

"Being part of the OHD PRIDE program is an invaluable opportunity to grow as a researcher within an outstanding and supportive scientific community," Dao said.

"Being part of the OHD PRIDE program is an invaluable opportunity to grow as a researcher within an outstanding and supportive scientific community."

"The mentors and program faculty at OHD PRIDE are committed the success of every fellow and we are excited to work with accomplished scholars like Dr. Dao," said Marino Bruce, associate dean of research at the University of Houston Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine.

A part of COLSA’s agriculture, nutrition, and food systems department, the UNH Dao Research Lab studies the role of diet, social factors, and the gut microbiota in cardiometabolic risks. As part of her NHAES work, Dao and her team conduct studies and engage in interdisciplinary research particularly focused on health disparities among U.S. Hispanic/Latino communities.

In 2021, Dao was named a scholar with the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) Health Disparities Research Institute, which brings together scientists to coordinate minority health and health disparities research and learn from scientific staff working across the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more about Dao’s research on her lab webpage.