Rebecca received her Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate degree from the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (UMass). During her Ph.D., Rebecca had the pleasure of studying with Dr. Patty Freedson and Dr. Barry Braun, the principle investigators of the Exercise Physiology and Energy Metabolism laboratories, respectively. Her previous work in the Exercise Physiology laboratory focused on developing and validating objective techniques to assess habitual physical activity in children and adults. As a research assistant in this lab, Rebecca was involved with several research studies assessing children’s responses to exercise; exercise and women’s health; and physical activity assessment. The research projects that Rebecca was involved in the Energy Metabolism laboratory were designed to examine the underlying mechanisms of insulin resistance, assess the physiological impact of an individual exercise dose and the subsequent improvements in insulin and glucose responses, and examine supplementation effects on insulin sensitivity.

Throughout her graduate career, Rebecca served as a graduate teaching assistant in the department of Kinesiology in which she contributed to the learning process of close to 1,000 students. As a testament to her outstanding contributions in teaching, the undergraduate students nominated her for one of the University’s Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards in 2003-04. As a Masters student, Rebecca was also asked to serve as a departmental assistant for the Speed, Strength and Conditioning Program for UMass Athletics. This occupation allowed her to combine her expanding knowledge in kinesiology and apply it to the design and implementation of resistance training programs for twenty-two varsity athletic teams on campus. While working with over 600 Division I athletes on an individual and team basis, Rebecca was able to lay a basic foundation in the principles of aerobic and anaerobic training. With these assistantships, she gained valuable experience and competence in working with individuals from diverse backgrounds and situations. While at Umass Rebecca was also recognized for her outstanding academic achievements with one of the highly competitive Northeast Alliance Doctoral Fellowships and the University of Massachusetts’ Diversity Fellowships funded by a National Science Foundation grant received by the University. She was also recognized by the New England Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine as an Outstanding Minority Graduate student among all kinesiology graduate programs in the New England region.

Rebecca’s research, teaching and academic experiences have encouraged and inspired her career goals of promoting physical activity for disease prevention in high-risk minority populations. Specifically, her past and present research examines the relationship between race/ethnicity, physical activity, and insulin resistance in an effort to address the root causes of ethnic/racial disparities in chronic disease prevalence. Rebecca’s prior training and research experience, along with the training that she is receiving now at the Childhood Obesity Research Center will prepare her to be an active and promising academic researcher and a leader in the field of minority health.