Barbara Lohse - Featured Faculty 2016

She completed her doctoral training in nutritional sciences and educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to that she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a Master of Science degree in Foods and Nutrition from the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Before joining RIT she was a Research Professor at The Pennsylvania State University and Principal Investigator of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education for the State of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Lohse's early career research focused on nutrition education strategies for healthcare professionals specifically examining problem-based learning as a nutrition education strategy. Her research with problem-based learning led to studying the use of technology to facilitate nutrition education delivery and evaluation. She demonstrated that online delivery of a nutrition course using e-mail was a feasible and effective nutrition education strategy. She created About Eating, an online program to promote weight management and healthful eating for low-income persons and general audiences. Dr. Lohse created theory-based scripts about multiple nutrition topics (e.g., whole grains, dental health, diabetes prevention), then collaborated with graphic designers to create short programs, ne/Frames for display on digital photo receivers and other screens in waiting areas and other public venues. She produced the adaptation of Mealtime is Family Time, an ne/Frames program focused on the importance of mealtime for families with preschool age children, into a mobile app and incorporated it into her early childhood education curriculum, NEEDs for Tots. To assess NEEDs for Tots effectiveness, Dr. Lohse has led the development, evaluation, and definition of an instrument that can evaluate and diagnose child feeding issues important for child growth and health. Dr. Lohse's greatest contribution to science is the exploration and definition of eating competence, an intra-individual approach to food and eating that entrains positive bio-psychosocial outcomes.

Dr. Lohse has led the research that identified an instrument with construct validity to measure eating competence and in doing so has been able to show that eating competence is a proxy for a global measure of health. Her studies have revealed eating competence to be associated with many public health goals. The Eating Competence Inventory has been translated into 6 languages and been used in research in 8 countries on 3 continents and 17 states in America.

Barbara Lohse
Director of the Wegmans School of Health and Nutrition
College of Health Sciences and Technology