Student Research Assistant/ Epidemiology Practicum Opportunity

Hip Hop HEALS (Healthy Eating And Living in Schools) school-based

health education program

If interested, please send your resume and cover letter to:

ald2146@columbia.edu

Supervisors: Dr. Olajide Williams, Associate Professor of Clinical

Neurology (CUMC)/ Alexandra DeSorbo, Senior Research Assistant
(CUMC)

Desired start date: June 2011

15-20 hours/week (Summer & Fall 2011)

Small stipend available (~$1500)

Hip Hop HEALS (Healthy Eating And Living in Schools) is an innovative,

culturally-tailored program that uses hip hop music and multimedia methods
to increase caloric literacy among preadolescent schoolchildren. The
program aims to educate children about their individual caloric requirement
and how to balance their energy needs with appropriate levels of caloric
intake and physical activity. Children are encouraged to read menu boards
and Nutrition Facts labels to obtain caloric information for foods and to make
healthier food choices by changing their food-purchasing behavior.

Hip Hop HEALS uses a “child-mediated intervention” approach, where

children are encouraged to go home to teach their parents what they learned
in the program. This research position will focus primarily on this facet of the
HEALS program: we are interested in exploring if children are motivated to
influence parental dietary decision-making at the point of purchase.

HEALS is currently being delivered to 3rd-6th graders attending New York City
schools. In the 2009-10 school year, the program reached over 12,000
students.

Responsibilities will include authoring an IRB protocol, collecting and

analyzing data, and developing and implementing the research procedures.

Interested students may use data for thesis purposes.

Research engagement and manuscript authorship will be an objective for

persons in this position.
Requirements:

Candidate must be proficient with SAS/SPSS and be willing to participate in

community-based health promotion programs. Experience with data
management is preferred. No medical experience is required.