Email

margaret.raber@bcm.edu

Positions

Assistant Professor

Pediatrics - Nutrition
Baylor College of Medicine

Education

Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Houston, TX

Cancer Prevention and Control

DPH from University of Texas Health Science Center

TX, Houston

Community Health Practice

MPH from University of Texas Health Science Center

Houston, TX

Community Health Practice

BS from New York University

New York, NY

Nutrition/Food Studies

Professional Statement

My research focuses on food preparation as a public health issue, specifically in the context of disease prevention and survivorship. The long-term goal of my research is to understand and improve population diet, mitigate energy balance disorders and reduce nutrition-related disease incidence through novel surveillance tools and interventions. My extensive public health, nutrition, and culinary training provide me with a unique perspective and strong motivation to intensively explore this growing area of research. I have over 10 years of experience in the food industry and completed the Diplôme de Cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in London, UK. My predoctoral training was in the Department of Pediatrics Research at MDACC, where my work focused on the nutritional needs of childhood cancer survivors and developing novel methods for assessing home cooking behaviors among parents of patients. I completed an Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, which included teaching cooking classes to diverse communities over the course of one year. In total, I taught participatory cooking classes to over 1,000 individuals, working closely with traditionally underserved communities (including women exiting the prison system, supportive housing residents, and immigrant communities at high risk of colorectal cancer) to develop tailored culinary education content. I have experience conducting qualitative research on this topic, specifically around food practices among diverse families with school-aged children. My postdoctoral training was in the Department of Behavioral Science at MDACC, where I refined a measure of healthy cooking practices using a citizen scientist approach and examined the utility of the measure for culinary intervention evaluation. I am uniquely qualified to conduct nutrition and culinary education research given my extensive experience in intervention development, expertise in defining and measuring home cooking quality, and background education and training in nutrition, public health, and behavioral science.

Selected Publications

• Warner EL, Basen-Engquist KM, Badger TA, Crane TE, Raber-Ramsey M "The Online Cancer Nutrition Misinformation: A framework of behavior change based on exposure to cancer nutrition misinformation." Cancer. 2022 July ; 128 (13): 2540-2548. Pubmed PMID: 35383913
• Robertson MC, Lee CY, Wu IH, Liao Y, Raber M, Parker N, Le T, Gatus L, Basen-Engquist KM "Changes in physical activity associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in individuals with overweight and obesity: An interrupted time series analysis with historical controls." J Behav Med. 2022 April ; 45 (2): 186-196. Pubmed PMID: 34698998
• Raber M, Ranjit N, Strong LL, Basen-Engquist K "Home cooking quality assessment tool validation using community science and crowdsourcing approaches." J Nutr Educ Behav. 2022 May ; 54 (5): 465-474. Pubmed PMID: 35000831
• Basen-Engquist K, Raber M, Strong LL, Schembre S, Li L, Arun B, Lu K, You N, Vilar E, Lynch P, Fares S, Peterson SK "Optimization of an mHealth lifestyle intervention for families with hereditary cancer syndromes: Study protocol for a multiphase optimization strategy feasibility study." Contemp Clin Trials. 2022 February ; 113 : 106662. Pubmed PMID: 34971795