Melissa Fuster
Associate Professor-Social, Behavioral and Population Science
- General Latin America
Biography
Dr. Fuster’s research examines the contextual factors influencing food practices and the policies and interventions implemented to improve them. This work applies a multidisciplinary and intersectional approach to examine underlying social determinants of diet-related health inequities, with a focus on Latin American communities and its diaspora communities. Her community-based research experience has sought to address diet-related disparities, aiming to shift emphasis to upstream approaches that engage the structural factors that underlie access to healthy food and high-quality healthcare. This was the subject of her first book, Caribeños at the Table: How Migration, Health, and Race Intersect in New York City. Building on this work, Dr. Fuster’s is currently tackling food access issues via the Latin American Restaurants in Action (LARiA) Project, supported by an NIH/NHLBI Career Development (K01) Award. The LARiA Project applies systems science, design thinking, and implementation sciences to engage Latin restaurants in designing and implementing innovations to facilitate healthier eating. Additionally, she also engages in research examining nutrition expert perceptions and practice, and food policy implementation. She completed her Ph.D. in Food Policy and Applied Nutrition at the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and a post-doctoral fellowship in food studies at New York University. Before joining the faculty at Tulane, she was an Assistant Professor at the City University of New York Brooklyn College.
Courses
Additional Info
Number of Dissertations or Theses Supervised in the Past 5 Years: 7
Research
Nutrition, Food policy, Caribbean diaspora in New York City, Community health, Nutrition Education, Restaurants, Implementation Science, Human-Centered Design, Systems Thinking
Degrees
- Ph.D., Tufts University, Food Policy and Applied Nutrition, 2013
- M.S., Tufts University, Food Policy and Applied Nutrition, 2008
- B.A., Florida International University, Anthropology and Biology, 2003
Academic Experience
- Associate Professor, Tulane School of Public Health, 2021-
- Non-Resident Faculty Fellow, City University of New York, 2020-
- Assistant Professor, City University of New York, 2015-2021
- Assistant Professor, New York University, 2013-2015
Distinctions
- First Book Award, Association for the Study of Food and Society, 2023
- Emily Ratner and Solon R. Cole I Professor in Social Entrepreneurship (Tulane Taylor Center), 2022-2025
- NIH-NHLBI Loan Repayment Award 2020-2022
- Career Development Award (K01), NIH, 2019-2024
- CUNY Faculty Diversity Initiative, Mellon Foundation Fellowship, 2017-2018
- NYU Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies Travel Award, 2015
- Tufts University Provost Fellowship, 2009-2011
Languages
- Spanish
Overseas Experience
- Puerto Rico
- El Salvador
- Panama
- Dominican Republic
Selected Publications
- 2024. “Madrid immigrants' perceptions of urban food environments and their dietary behaviours,” with A Chuquitarco-Morales, J Rivera-Navarro, D La Parra-Casado, and M Franco. Appetite 199:107390.
- 2023. “Trends in food insecurity among Spanish-speaking Hispanics did not change during and following the Great Recession” with López, MA, J Fleckman, A George & MP Chaparro. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
- 2023. “Examining Capabilities, Opportunity, and Motivation for Healthy Eating Behaviors in Latin American restaurants: A quantitative application of the COM-B model to inform future interventions.” with M.P. Santos, et al. BMC Nutrition 9:57.
- 2023. “Evaluating the outcomes and implementation determinants of interventions co-developed using human-centered design to promote healthy eating in restaurants...with E. Dimond et al.,Frontiers in Public Health 11 (Online, May 18, 2023)
- 2023. “The Association between Food Insecurity and Language Use among Hispanics Residing in the U.S. Depends on Nativity,” with Lopez, MA, J Fleckman, A George & MP Chaparro. Public Health Nutrition 26(9): 1887-1895.
- 2023. “Furthering Nutrition Equity through Innovative and Empathetic Collaborations with the Restaurant Sector,” Frontiers in Public Health 11 (Online, February 2, 2023).
- 2022. “Emergency food distribution efforts in New Orleans, LA after Hurricane Ida.” with Singleton, Chaparro, M. P., O’Malley, K., & Rose, D. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, 968552–968552.
- 2022. “Food Environments in Times of Crises: Examining Menu Changes in Response to COVID-19 Among Hispanic Caribbean Restaurants in New York City.” with Frank, T., & Rodriguez Pouget, E. Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition, ahead-of-print(ahead-of
- 2022. “Area Characteristics and Consumer Nutrition Environments in Restaurants: an Examination of Hispanic Caribbean Restaurants in New York City.” with Kodali, H., Ray, K., Elbel, B., Handley, M. A., Huang, T. T.-K., & Johnson, G. Journal of Racial and E
- 2021. Caribeños at the Table: How Migration, Health, and Race Intersect in New York City. University of North Carolina Press.
- 2021. “Area characteristics and consumer nutrition environments in restaurants: An examination of Hispanic Caribbean restaurants in New York City”. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.
- 2021. “Intuitive Eating and Health at Every Size in Community Settings: Dietitians’ Perceptions of Practice Barriers” Journal of Critical Dietetics, 5 (2): 53-64.
- 2020. “Community Health Research, Restaurants, and Adjusting in Uncertainty” Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies (Special Issue, Food in the Times of COVID-19) 20 (3): 28-29.
