By Darliene Howell, NAAFA Administrative Director

The Dr. Paul Ernsberger Research Scholarship was established to not only honor Dr. Ernsberger’s decades of research on metabolic syndrome, diabetes, weight cycling, and medical harm caused by diet obsession and weight bias. It was implemented to continue debunking myths and misunderstanding about fat and health. With these scholarships, NAAFA helps support graduate students who want to carry on and advance Dr. Ernsberger's legacy. These scholarships are funded by you, our donors. If you believe it’s important to fund future research, you can donate to the scholarship fund at naafa.org/donate.

[Image description (provided by the person pictured): A young brown woman stands smiling in front of a research poster presentation at a conference. She has long, dark hair and is wearing a floral dress, a beige cardigan, and a conference lanyard with badges. She is holding a canvas tote bag. Behind her, the main poster is titled "Validation of the Spanish Version of the Parent Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire." The poster displays sections labeled Background, Participants, Results, and Conclusions, and includes multiple charts and statistical tables. A purple ribbon labeled "Best of Show" is pinned to the top of the poster. The University of Denver and other academic institutions are listed as affiliations. Two additional posters are partially visible on either side, labeled #38 and #39.]

Shikha Advani, MS, MSW, LCSW, LSW, GSSW PhD Student (She/her/hers) - Awarded $2,500 Scholarship

Shikha is a PhD candidate in the Department of Social Work at the University of Denver. Her project for "We Deserve Space" is a weight-inclusive community-based intersectional intervention for higher weight individuals to reduce internalized weight stigma and improve mental and behavioral health outcomes. It's a large scale (682 individuals) well-run study and looks to yield important findings that can improve fat folks' experience with weight stigma and hopefully lead to improved physiological and mental health.

[Image description (provided by the person pictured): Headshot of Maria Matory.]

Maria Matory (She/her) - Awarded $2,500 Scholarship

Maria's research aims to show how genetics, stress and environment intersect to influence BMI. While Maria does interrogate ob*sity as a disease framework, her research is challenging the ob*sity disease paradigm that fatness is a result of abdication of personal responsibility, and investigates whether "ob*sity" can be a symptom of structural iniquity and systemic neglect. Her goals align so succinctly to several of Dr. Ernsberger's goals within his research. Dr. Ernsberger was deeply involved in the Jackson Heart Study and the potential of such a large data set for an underserved population to reveal and ultimately reverse some of the elements discrimination when it comes to ob*sity but do so also with a population who is very underserved in this area.

*[Image description (provided by the person pictured): Photo of Hillary Hecht wearing a dark blue button down shirt and glasses, leaning on a stack of books, and smiling.]*

Hillary Hecht (They/them/theirs) - Awarded $2,500 Scholarship

Hillary is receiving a second scholarship (original award in 2024). Their Curriculum Vitae alone shows a drive unparalleled by other applicants. They are driven to reach all aspects of their goals in addition to lending themselves to multiple research and educational endeavors all while finishing their doctorate. They function well in teams whether leading, facilitating, or even in just engaging other team members to bring their voices forward. They are not afraid to professionally and humbly debunk fellow peers and faculty members' misunderstandings about the relationship between size and health. Per one of the reviewers, they gently offer ways to spotlight inclusivity in teaching and research. This second scholarship will go far to help them reach out to more interdisciplinary professionals with the need for improving primary care through the utilization of weight inclusive frameworks. Dr. Ernsberger was especially passionate on all these fronts. They are much deserving of another PERS award to help complete the laudable work they are expertly accomplishing.

*[Image description (provided by the person pictured): Photo of Kari Slater, a smiling young fat white female with shoulder-length light brown hair, wearing a black sweater over a patterned dress.]*

Kari Slater (She/her) - Awarded $1,000 Scholarship

Kari is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Pennsylvania, where she has specialized experience working with disordered eating and body image. She is a doctoral candidate in Counselor Education and Supervision at Adams State University. Kari's dissertation research focuses on size-inclusive counseling practices and competency development. Kari will be completing a Delphi study, in which she will recruit counselors, counselor educators, supervisors, advocacy leaders, and researchers with expertise in size-inclusion, body diversity, weight bias, and sizeism to reach consensus on size-inclusive counseling practices. She plans to use the results to support the development of counseling competencies and standards to inform counselor educators and supervisors when training counselors to work ethically and effectively with body size in counseling.

[Image description (provided by the person pictured): 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/theirs) - Awarded $1,000 Scholarship

This is Ni’Shele’s second scholarship (original award in 2024). Their research focus is on how African-American women in the community get funneled into WW and other weight loss programs, develop forms of resistance within the programs, and find liberation and acceptance within those communities. The evaluators believe this is an interesting angle and makes sense given that many folks are not exposed to fat liberation activist circles. Additionally, it is establishing better health guidelines and care by raising the issues and in developing healthism principles for counseling.