My research is focused on investigating the relationships between body composition, bone health, and chronic disease in the pediatric population. While obesity related to caloric imbalance may be the greatest risk factor for the development of cardiometabolic disease in childhood; there are also growing numbers of children who are survivors of serious childhood disease who may be at risk for the development of cardiometabolic complications. Traditional measures of adiposity such as body mass index (BMI) or percent body fat may not be accurate in these populations. My research collaborators and I have developed techniques for the use of dual energy Xray absorptiometry (DXA) to independently assess fat and lean body mass index in children. We are currently using these methods to better understand the relationship between body composition and cardiometabolic disease in a variety of childhood disorders.
