Noel Chavez

Noel Chávez, PhD, RD, LDN
Associate Professor, Community Health Sciences
Co-Director, Maternal and Child Health Program

Current Research Interests

My research centers on the health and nutrition status of Latinos and other underrepresented groups, particularly that of children and families. A related interest is the role of culture in nutrition and health and the changes in health and nutritional status that occur with migration, and the effects of these changes on health services use. Several of my current research projects relate to Latino child health, including a study of maternal environmental and dietary influences on subsequent development of asthma in their children, a comprehensive assessment of health services use, family health and nutrition attitudes and behaviors in Latino families with young children. I also have a research stream in the area of Community Food Security, and am working now on data analysis from the UIC portion of a large project to assess the food system in the Chicago area. One newer project involves assessing the availability of fruits and vegetables in selected Illinois WIC vendors as preparation for new USDA regulations to authorize fruit and vegetable purchases for WIC clients. I am also an investigator on a NIH funded study to evaluate cultural and ethnic differences in survey responses in four ethnic groups.

Teaching

I currently teach two courses for the MCHP, Best Practices in Maternal and Child Health (with Dr. Kelley), and PH Aspects of Maternal and Child Nutrition, but other courses I teach for the Division include Nutrition for Public Health Professionals, Nutritional Epidemiology, and Public Health Planning and Evaluation.

Service

Food & Nutrition, MCH and Community Health Planning and Policy Development Sections and the Latino Caucus of the American Public Health Association; Public Health Nutrition, Research Nutrition, and Hunger and Environmental Nutrition Practice Groups and the Latinos & Hispanics in Dietetics & Nutrition Member Interest Group of the American Dietetics Association; American Evaluation Association; Association of Teachers of Maternal and Child Health; Association for the Study of Food & Society; Nutrition Services Advisory Committee, Illinois Department of Human Services; Healthy Schools Initiative, Walk Across Illinois School Fitness Program in Chicago Public Schools, Coalition to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC).

Recent Representative Publications

• Chávez, N. and S. Telleen, Food Insufficiency in Urban Latino Families, Journal of Immigrant & Minority Health, 9(3): 2007.
• Johnson, T.P., Y.I. Cho, A.L. Holbrook, D. O'Rourke, R.B. Warnecke & N. Chavez, Cultural variability in the effects of question design features on respondent comprehension of health surveys, Annals of Epidemiology, 16:661-668, 2006.
• Persky, V.W., J. Piorkowski, E. Hernandez, N. Chavez, C Wagner-Cassanova, C. Vergara, D. Pelzel, R. Enriquez, S. Gutierrez, & Adela Busso, Prenatal exposure to Acetaminophen and respiratory symptoms in the first year of life, submitted to Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology.
• Telleen, S., Y.O.Rhee Kim, N. Chavez, W. Hall, & S. Gajendra, Access to oral health services by Hispanic children in Chicago, submitted to Journal of Public Health Dentistry.