Meet Our 2024 Scholarship Winners!
[Image Description: Graphic has a black background with aqua lettering and states, “DR. PAUL ERNSBERGER RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIP”. Above the text is a drawing of a lab beaker.]
NAAFA is delighted to announce the three winners of the 2024 Dr. Paul Ernsberger Research Scholarship! The goal of the Dr. Paul Ernsberger Research Scholarship is to provide financial support to students currently enrolled in a graduate program with an accredited U.S. college or university. Dr. Ernsberger’s decades of research on metabolic syndrome, diabetes, weight cycling, and the medical harm caused by diet obsession and weight bias has had an immeasurable impact on debunking myths and misunderstandings about fat and health. It is an honor for NAAFA to support the continuation of his important work by supporting graduate students who hope to carry on and advance Dr. Ernsberger’s legacy.
All applications were reviewed by a committee of volunteers who are familiar with Dr. Ensberger's work: NAAFA Board Member Elaine Lee, Dr. Richard Koletsky (Dr. Ernsberger's lab partner), and Cathy Niswonger Raum, RN, BSN, CRRN. Each winner has received a scholarship in the amount of $2,500.00 to further their work.
[Image description (provided by Ni’Shele Jackson): a smiling, young black femme appearing person taken outdoors. They are wearing a gray top with geometric designs and their eyeglasses are tucked in their collar.]
Ni’Shele Jackson (they/them)
Ni’Shele is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
They are conducting rigorous sociological research, using quantitative and qualitative methods, with a focus on ethnographic research and using an intersectional lens, to connect weight loss narratives to structural causes, and that by debunking the predominant cultural narrative that weight loss is the only option, we can push for structural and social change. This research has the potential to really change and push forward fat liberation and activists.
[Image Description (provided by Christina Cook): a smiling, fat, multiracial woman wearing glasses. She is wearing a white shirt with black polka dots standing against a white background.]
Christina Cook (she/her)
Christina is a doctoral candidate in public health at Georgia Southern University. Her research focus is medical harm caused by physician/practitioner bias.
Christina has a demonstrated history of engagement with impactful projects around food insecurity, the history of fatphobia and fatmisia, the moralization of health, and understanding the social and cultural structures around fatness and their impact on fat patients' experience with medical providers.
Her research proposal is very clear and detailed and utilizes a fat studies lens and photovoice, a community-based participatory research method. She plans to use the funds to compensate her research study subjects, who are all members of the fat community, for their time and expertise in participating in her research.
[Image description (provided by Hillary Hecht): a smiling, young, white femme appearing person with short, dark hair and wearing eyeglasses. They are wearing a blue button-down shirt with white buttons and have long, dangly earrings.]
Hillary Hecht (they/them)
Hillary is a doctoral candidate at the School of Public Health at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
They have demonstrated leadership track record, teamwork in their academic research work, rigorous efforts in both quantitative and qualitative research projects, academic publications, and their commitment to NAAFA's mission and vision. They are pursuing a career as an independent researcher and scholar or tenured faculty member at a research institution in the fat studies and public health fields.
Hillary's current research explores how health care institutions and organizations can mitigate weight stigma and adopt weight-affirming care practices, thus incrementally working toward fat liberation.
