Social Epidemiology Research Group

Welcome

Welcome to the Social Epidemiology Research Group in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health. The goal of our research is to effectively address the impact of disease risk in ethnic minority and vulnerable populations. We aim to accomplish this goal by examining individual-level risk factors associated with disease onset within the context of social and environmental influences.

Research

Interests

• Diabetes and obesity epidemiology
• Food environments and dietary behaviors
• Neighborhood influences on health
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and population health

Projects

• IFOODS (Indianapolis Food Outlets & Obesity Determinants Study) (Co-I)
• Neighborhood Influences on Diabetes Risk
• STRONG KIDS Project (Co-I)
• The Neighborhood Food Environment, Collective Efficacy and the Weight Status of Black Youth in Cape Town, South Africa

Join the Lab

Principal Investigator

Diana Grigsby-Toussaint, PhD, MPH
123A Huff Hall
1206 South Fourth Street
Phone: (217) 333-9207
dgrigs1@illinois.edu

Photos

Introduction to Epidemiology Student Case Studies Poster Session, Spring 2008
Spring 2008 Poster Session

Research Staff

Graduate Students

Jessica Kubo
Jessica Kubo is a PhD student in the Department of Statistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. She received her B.S. in 2008 from the University of Illinois majoring in nuclear, plasma and radiological engineering.

Jessica spent the summer of 2007 as an intern at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital working on analyzing MRI and PET scan images of children with epilepsy and comparing brain scans using statistical methods. Her research interests include medical imaging and epidemiology.

Jessica is originally from the state of Hawaii and does Western and Chinese calligraphy in her spare time. She also possesses an extensive rock and fossil collection and loves making desserts to share when she gets the chance. Jessica can be reached at jkubo2@illinois.edu.

Imelda Moise
Imelda Moise is a second year PhD Student in the department of Geography at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She received her MS in Geography (Health Geography concentration) from the same institution and her BA in Environmental Studies and Geography (double major) from the University of Oregon in 2005.

Her current research interests include medical geography, GIS and Spatial Analysis, Environmental Justice and, Population and Environment. Her PhD research focuses on analyzing the impact of small scale aquaculture on disease ecology (malaria) in the district of Mwinilunga in Zambia. In particular, she is interested in investigating key ecological factors that favor the proliferation of vector mosquitoes in environments as a result of small scale fish farming.

Her masters thesis was titled "GIS and Spatial Modeling of HIV Prevalence in Zambia".

Apart from being a graduate student, Imelda is a mother of two great kids. As such her weekends are spent between soccer games, cooking, gardening and homework.

Sarah Murphy
Sarah Murphy is pursuing a master's degree in Community Health (Epidemiology) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Sarah earned her bachelor's degree in General Studies from Northern Illinois University before relocating to Champaign-Urbana for graduate study. In addition to working on the Strong Kids project for a research assistantship with Dr. Diana Grigsby-Toussaint, Sarah also teaches two sections of Community Health 304- Foundations of Health Behavior. For fun, Sarah enjoys tennis, walks with her dog, reading, and film. Other interests include real estate, veterinary medicine, and agriculture.
Sarah may be contacted at smurphy7@illinois.edu.